Mission Spotlight's first full-length, Keep the Good Ones Close, explores the downtrodden, ballad-y side of country and western, with Jackpot! Recording Studio's Larry Crane providing the band with a clear, airy sound that's both warm and forlorn. Mission Spotlight frontman Kurt Foster recorded the album's final cut, "I Have Tried," on his phone in a cabin on Mt. Hood, and it's a whisper into the void—but elsewhere his sturdy-as-an-oak voice guides the band through carefully crafted, amber-tinted country rock. NED LANNAMANN