Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

rob thomas apparently just needs to stick to writing for other people (preferably aging icons). his stuff with matchbox 20 is always fair-to-middling at best; his work for others, however, is pretty damned good. I actually liked "smooth," his grammy-winner for santana, quit a bit. his track for willie nelson, "maria (shut up and kiss me)," is even better. a horn-laced pop-rocker, which inexplicably, lost highway has gotten on country radio (yesssss!) -- it's almost as good as "mendocino county line" (which is ace). no surprise that it's on cmt, the country's best country radio station. on billboard's country chart? that's surprising.