Richie Fields’s “Man Enough to Cry” CD has some real highlights and low lights. The title track is a perfect showcase for the baritone’s somewhat limited range and is the best song on the album. A sweet ballad about raising a little boy to be a good man, it’s definitely worth a listen.

He should have started off the album with that track. Unfortunately, it opens with “I Remember That Lonely,” which is just not a good fit for Fields’s voice, and listening to him reach for some of those notes is a little hard on the ears.

The CD does get better from there, with fun numbers including “Saving it Up for Saturday Night” and “Short Term Gain, Long Term Pain”; the twangy “(She’s Bound To Be) Somebody’s Baby”; and the sentimental ballad “In A Place Like This.”

I almost really like the so-funny “When Did I Get Old?”

It takes a crow bar to get my butt off the couch.
I hear my daddy’s words coming out of my mouth
How’d I get here? Man, it’s freaking me out!
When did I get here, became a rock that just don’t roll!

Nothing terribly original here, with songs of good women, bad women, good times and lost love. Not a bad efforts, but not a hit that I hear here.

For more information on Richie Fields, see www.richiefields.com.

Vicky Dobbin is a country music lover in Falls Church, VA. Read her country music blog at www.lovemycountrymusic.com and follow her at http://twitter.com/vdobbin.

Richie Fields’s new single “When You Love Someone That Much” is a story that most will relate to. It’s about love’s ability to triumph even during adverse times. The single is already resonating with fans at his live shows, and it drew a big response from a packed house at FUEL nightclub during CMA Music Festival week. Richie says that the song is hitting home with all of his audiences, and adds: “I knew it was special when I first listened to it during a pitch session a few months ago. I actually got goose bumps when I heard this one.”

Richie is currently out on the road and returns to the studio soon to complete the recording of his upcoming CD. Since turning to music full-time in 2006, Richie’s accomplishments include a slot on the CMA’s Who New To Watch in 2009 list, and his national television debut on Inside Music Row in February. Richie was Country Weekly’s “Who’s New” in June, and will be featured in the magazine again in July.

Listen to “When You Love Someone That Much” and let us know what you think!

To find out more about Richie watch CMTT’s interview from CMA Fest 2009 and head over to www.richiefields.com and www.MySpace.com/richiefields.