"Hard to Be Easy", the stunning first taste of these Simple Days, is beautifully sung, played and produced. While Mark Rozzo's songwriting works the same deceptively simple chords that Stamey and Holsapple have strummed blessedly through our lives, his singing is a notch above them -- more on a par with Norman Blake. Because "Hard to Be Easy" still earns the repeat button on its tenth play, Rozzo's smooth and easy voice could make it the ubiquitous number one hit you never wind up hating. And that's what its future deserves to be: the summer song you hum in tandem with friends, smart people and idiots alike.

Admittedly, a Number One hit for Champale is improbable, as their music -- like Teenage Fanclub and Matthew Sweet -- seems reconciled to minor radio rotation at best. It's as if radio programmers listen to these singles, spinning with dangling hooks in the small, mighty world of classic pop, and doubt the beauty their ears hear. You may think they have balls for playing Elton John's pal Eminem, but ask yourself what contemporary record could be loved by every demographic? As there are no sitars or hip hop beats in "Hard to Be Easy", Champale must be doomed.

They're not doomed, though. Their songs are frequently graced with trumpets, alto saxophones and the glorious cello and violin work of Clem Snide's Jason Glasser. In my recent review of Clem Snide's The Ghost of Fashion, I mentioned that the band's previous album seemed too intentionally pretty. Hopefully today's DJs will get the same vibe from "Hard to Be Easy". They'll hear the violin -- so otherworldly it makes Glasser's hands sound like the outlet for all the emotion dead violinist Michael Rabin left off record -- and think it makes the pop too carbonated for kids, and that it adds too many bows to the top of the melody. And so the DJs will market the song to old folks, and Champale will follow the path of the drink after which they're named: something for Grandpa to hook the kids on.

I really hope that happens. And when it does, listeners will find in Champale the rare band with a number one hit that has so many worthy follow-ups behind it. "Motel California" is like a tribute to Teenage Fanclub, with a rolling wash of guitars, Beach Boys harmonies and simple but elegant lyrics, while ballads like "Paducah" soar from the same peaceful slumbers as Paul McCartney's lazy-day Ram, with melodic storms of violin, steel guitar and Byrdsy flights of fancy. A rare few songs on Simple Days aren't striking on first listen, but even those tracks are sung and played with such aplomb that you'll enjoy waiting out the sunny weather for the storm.