Since Sheryl Crow debuted in the mid ‘90s, she has tried on a number of different personas: earnestly personal, politically charged, and now—with her latest offering, Feels Like Home—folksy country.

The subject matter checks most of the usual boxes for country music—passionate flings (“Callin’ Me When I’m Lonely”), casual alcoholism (“We Oughta Be Drinking”), and the allure of the open road (“Shotgun”)—but fails to say anything interesting or original about them. At times, it feels like every line is a cliché. Nothing on the album is worse than the cringe-worthy line, “Thank god they make waterproof mascara / ‘cause it won’t run like his daddy did.”

Thankfully, some tracks are much more grounded than that, namely with the one-two gut punch of “Homesick” and “Homecoming Queen,” two emotionally honest tracks about lost love and the compromise that comes with fading glory. The closing track, “Stay at Home Mother,” which Crow whispers through, is also hauntingly beautiful. Here, the ostentatious content of the rest of the album gets stripped away in favour of a more personal and real sound.

Sadly, the same can’t be said for most of the other tracks which are overproduced in the most inoffensively bland, radio-friendly way possible. It’s a shame that the album as a whole can’t rise above these few isolated moments of greatness—but the saccharine arrangements torpedo any nuance that might have otherwise managed to shine through.