While Kurt Fortmeyer's previous release "One More Night In Nashville" was pretty much a straight ahead traditional country album, folks familiar with his background and his musical influences will not be surprised by the breadth of his new CD "Ameraucana". There are still some stone country tracks for the hardcore purists, such as the Bakersfield romp of "Merle Go 'Round" and the breakup song inspired by the Old Testament wisdom of King Solomon "Can't Cut The Baby In Half". But there's also the Merle Haggard-meets-Bob Dylan-at-Kris Kristofferson's-house vibe of the social/political protest "Jesus Wouldn't Do It That Way", the Pink Floyd/Neil Young-sounding Vietnam veteran's PTSD story "All Fall Down", and the spaghetti western bluegrass song about a man who finds grace through an organ transplant "The Heart Of A Hobo". Kurt's slightly twisted sense of humor shows through on the Hee Haw-sounding tale of a perpetual good guy who decides to turn his life around "Snugglin' With My Demons", the acoustic barnyard stomp about a rooster with a bad attitude "The Wrong Side Of The Roost", and the "Dr. John meets Leon Redbone under an overpass in southern Lousiana" blues about someone who complains all the time "Call The Bitchdoctor On You". The blue-eyed (well, hazel-eyed in Kurt's case) southern soul version of the live show favorite "What's Not To Love About That", the Trop Rock "A Beer In The Hand", and the sung-from-the-point-of-view-of-a-house ballad of longing "A Woman's Touch" round out the CD. Recorded with the same producer (Pat Lassiter) and most of the same players as his previous release, "Ameraucana" takes Kurt's stellar songwriting to a whole new sonic dimension. And yes, Kurt knows that Ameraucana is a breed of chicken, and not a musical genre. He's just too much of a wiseass to care.