With a hit remake of "Flowers on the Wall," a flashy image as a rockabilly dude, and a reputation as a hotshot guitarist, Eric Heatherly seemed to have everything going for him in 2000. Five years later, Heatherly returns older, wiser, and angrier, with an album that chronicles the "Dark Days" (as one song title puts it) that followed such bright prospects. He lashes out at the betrayal of a music industry exec on "Who Needs Enemies (With Friends Like You)," ridicules a generation of videogenic stars with no musical chops on "Hang It on Your Heart," and provides a sequel of sorts to "Flowers" with "Workin" My Way Down." Yet this self-produced effort shows that Heatherly has found creative satisfaction now that he"s no longer a cog in the music industry machine, with the title track celebrating a livelier Nashville than you"ll find along Music Row and the album-opening "Judging Beauty" sharpening the rock & roll edge of Heatherly"s brand of country. Amid the album"s tales of hard times, "Love Story Love" shows Heatherly"s softer side, in the tenderness of a father"s devotion to his daughter. --Don McLeese