Chris Elliott, a literature BA (with a minor in music) and poetry MFA, has his minstrelsy credentials fully in order. With his ultra-straightforward folk songwriting, familiar melodies and self-conscious storytelling, Elliott might well have fallen prey to the conditioned mediocrity of the educated artist -- a victim of too much instruction in the status quo. Certainly, tracks like impossibly corny (but pretty) opener "Making Up Lost Love" or "Heavy Metal Dayz", with its reminiscences on underage drinking, would go over famously at any frat-boy watering hole. Elliott is skilled in characterization; "Greek Tragedy" especially nails it, with a wry but sensitive portrait of the immigrant restaurant owner who briefly employs the song's protagonist. However, his troubadourishness has a rather forced quality; although we appreciate the craft behind these stories, we're not irresistibly drawn into them, and they all seem a bit clichéd -- much like the social commentary of "Nice"'s "Birth / School /Work / Death" refrain. Satellite UFO Jet Plane or Star also veers into dangerously syrupy territory with sentimentalities like the smug-marrieds anthem "Love Gone Right" or "Sweet Liberty", a starry-eyed patriot ballad/history lesson.

Elliott has talent, albeit a rather deliberate sort, and his record definitely has an audience. It's just hard to tell whether that audience is fortyish housewives or radio-listening college kids. Then again, that's the beauty of unchallenging, melodic music: it can please everyone, or at least a large slice of the populace.