Drops: Tim McGraw's 'Emotional Traffic'

Let's get the logistics behind Tim McGraw's "Emotional Traffic" (Curb) out of the way.

It's the final album for his longtime label, delayed while a Nashville court decided whether it fulfilled his contract. In November, the court sided with McGraw, and so the album -- which may have been ready as early as two years ago -- can now be released.

The strain shows. While McGraw is usually savvy about picking material and shrewd about targeting a sound for his albums, "Emotional Traffic" feels cobbled together, with songs of uneven quality and wide-ranging styles.

The singles are still top-notch. The playful "Felt Good on My Lips," which was released way back in 2010, is still a delight. The current single, "Better Than I Used to Be" (which tellingly starts with the line "I know how to hold a grudge"), covers the same ground sonically and lyrically that "Live Like You Were Dying" did so successfully, while "Touchdown Jesus" gives a "Pink Houses"-styled country-pop number a gospel twist.

However, there are a few songs that feel like filler and a few experiments that fall flat. "Halo" oddly misses the mark as a countrified Coldplay song, and "Only Human," a weird duet with R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo, ends up somewhere between Christopher Cross and Peter Cetera-era Chicago.

To his credit, even when he's not trying all that hard, McGraw still manages to sound pretty good most of the time.

TIM McGRAW

"Emotional Traffic"

GRADE C+

BOTTOM LINE An uncharacteristically halfhearted effort