Bon Jovi: Jon Bon Jovi (vocals, guitar); Richie Sambora (guitar); David Bryan (keyboards); Tico Torres (drums).

Additional personnel: Hugh McDonald (bass guitar).

Recording information: 2007.

Although the initial reports that LOST HIGHWAY was to be Bon Jovi's "country album" turned out to be somewhat overstated, it does sit comfortably at the meeting ground between commercial rock and commercial country that Garth Brooks started exploring in the early 1990s, and that folks like Big and Rich or Toby Keith mine successfully today.

In fact, Big and Rich continued their bid to appear on every album recorded in Nashville in 2007 by helping out on "We Got It Going On," while the ballad "Stranger" features guest vocals by Leann Rimes. Aside from those nods to the contemporary Nashville scene, and of course, the Hank Williams nod of the album title, LOST HIGHWAY is at heart an old-fashioned Bon Jovi album, based on their patented combo of Richie Sambora's hard-candy guitar riffs and Jon Bon Jovi's heartthrob looks and Everyman lyrical persona. Highlights include the teary lost-love ballad "Seat Next To You" and the powerful first single "You Want To Make A Memory."