There’s a lot of symbolism here (digital merry-go-round caballus turns into shoe containing fragile singer, propelled laterally off-screen by dreamy vapors), or else the creators mean nothing by the art at all, which is almost better.

Pretty in pink, I suppose, but a little too Animatrix-meets-Supergrass-album-art-sy for this manly man.

—Henry M. Cowles

Jo Dee Messina

“My Give a Damn is Busted”

I’m almost certain this track is on Tom Cruise’s iPod. Why? Because it contains a scathing indictment of psychiatry, that’s why, not to mention well-suiting his reputation as a part-time cowboy.

One might ask what qualifies pop-country chanteuse Joe Dee Messina to rail against the mental health establishment. Jo Dee may not know much about the history of psychology, but she sure knows how to rock a pair of skin-tight, low-rise, leather jeans.

In fact, certain members of the viewing public (namely the male ones) may find it difficult to stand without embarrassment at the video’s conclusion.

Melodically speaking, the song is average pop-country fare: the acoustic guitar is nice and twangy, there’s the requisite solo fiddle wailing in the background, and the snare drum is mixed nice and loud. The track really would have benefited from a stronger bassline, however—as “Give a Damn,” unlike Messina herself, really doesn’t have much of a bottom.

Lyrically, Messina revisits the girl-power themes Shania Twain profitably explored in tracks like “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”, but Messina’s richer, raspier, Etheridge-esque voice makes “Give a Damn” an edgier and more enjoyable experience.

One detects an incipient feminism in Messina’s songcraft, but this is Red State music, so righteous indignation is softened to mere peevishness.

There’s really not a whole lot going on in the video: just Messina walking down a city street in a series of seductive pairs of pants with her simpering ex in tow.

Apparently, his cheatin’ ways have led to Messina’s titular “give a damn” becoming “busted.” Her acting is animated and engaging, so I wasn’t bored by the video’s flimsy premise, but I wasn’t exactly bowled over.

Nonetheless, it’s worth a look, much like Messina’s posterior. Or Cruise’s, for that matter. Analyze that, if you dare.

—Bernard Parham