One More Day

One More Day by Diamond Rio

Diamond Rio's first big hit was called "Meet in the Middle," but "caught in the middle" more accurately describes One More Day: they sound trapped between cookie-cutter pop-country material and the irrepressible individuality of their instrumental and vocal personalities. Jimmy Olander's unique guitar style and Gene Johnson's down-home mandolin do their best to fight through NutraSweet tunes like "'Til the Heartache's Gone" and "The Love of a Woman"; but, like Marty Roe's honest vocals and the group's high-lonesome harmonies, they reside more comfortably in the arms of clever good-time tunes like "Stuff" and "That's Just That." They can also make you believe a heartbreaking tune about a couple's struggle with alcoholism ("I'm Trying") or raise chicken-skin with a tender bluegrass version of J.D. Souther's "Hearts Against the Wind." The NashVegas stuff may get them hits but it's tunes like those and Roy Orbison-meets-Buck Owens-at-the-beach stuff like "I Think I Love You" that makes them interesting. --Michael Ross