TAYLORS USED:
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Carrying on this relatively recent Nashville practice are current chart-topping artists like Tim McGraw, who loves cowboy songs as well as Elton John, and Keith Urban, who has an abiding respect for classic American country and plays a mean banjo, but sounds more like Joe Walsh than Chet Atkins when he plugs in his guitar.

Enter Daniel Lee Martin, a personable and talented newcomer on the country horizon who has one cowboy boot planted in the old school, and one flashy leather shoe set firmly in modern rock- and pop-leaning country radio. Martin, an ex-professional golfer and baseball player who gave up a successful white-collar job in advertising to pursue his lifelong dream of being a country singer, has said in recent interviews that his music is like Vince Gill meets Lefty Frizzell.

There’s a short guitar solo break on the title track that best demonstrates his point. In the solo, a twangy pedal steel and a raging electric guitar duel for supremacy. That struggle symbolizes this entire release, which is a friendly and melodic duel between traditional and contemporary forces. But in this battle, both sides win; from start to finish, On My Way To You, with its bountiful 15 songs, is terrific and gets even better with subsequent listens.

The most appealing aspect of this record is Martin’s sweet and unique voice. He has a remarkable range and never over-sings like some young country stars have a tendency to do. The other thing that impressed me is Martin’s obvious and unhidden sensitivity. Enough of a buff jock and a macho, hat-wearin’ good ol’ boy to be a modern country-rock star, Daniel Lee has the tender heart of a ’70s pop-folkie. It’s no surprise that his biggest musical influence is John Denver.

In fact, Martin’s bluegrassy rendition of “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Denver’s timeless rural anthem, is nicely done here. And boy does his Taylor’s pure, clean sound shine on this cut. John D himself would be proud of this take, on which there’s a nice breakdown at the end. Covering this classic, which was a career- and life-changing monster hit for Denver, is a bit of a risk for Martin, but he has the vocal chops and the unabashed reverence for Denver to pull it off. It’s a melodic and nostalgic walk through some pretty sacred ground.

Elsewhere, this record is well produced and willfully conflicted, alternating between modern rockers and more old-fashioned acoustic ballads. Daniel knows his way around a rock tune, but he’s most at home, at least to my ears, on the ballads. He just sounds more natural singing the sweet songs. “You Know Me” is a tender sentiment about how longtime lovers know the good and the bad about their mates and love them just the same. “That’s What God Made Rivers For” is a poignant paean to nature, an outcry in the midst of the urban sprawl that now defines so much of the American landscape, with a beautiful extended musical fade at the end. “Through and Through” is a catchy, old-timey offering with a simple chord progression and plaintive message about undying love. It’s a great little country song, an instant classic, even though it should have been cut by about a minute. But that’s a minor complaint.

Martin’s paid his dues over the past ten years, shopping his talents to the labels, singing in small clubs, and touring incessantly as the opening act for everyone from Willie Nelson to Charlie Daniels to Alison Krauss to Toby Keith. But he’s a headliner now. While there’s no one cut here that will catapult him to superstardom, it’s an outstanding sophomore effort. Martin is well on his way to breathing the same rarefied country air as the Urbans and the McGraws.