Terrible pop country is the gas station coffee of music. Yeah, it doesn't taste great and that corn syrup creamer is going to make my stomach churn at some point, but on a long drive those cheesy sentiments beat you over the head with straight-forward lyrics about pickup trucks and pouring rain, and choruses I can sing along to before the song is over will keep me awake and entertained. Keith Urban deals in this much-maligned realm; the Australian celeb hubby of Nicole Kidman sings about falling in love in the back of a cop car ("The blue lights were shinin'/Bringing out the freedom in your eyes") and stands in a photo on his album cover in the middle of a cornfield. It's all a problematic fantasy world, a flawed fairy-tale version of the country sung by someone who didn't grow up here, but sometimes it feels good to sing along. by Robin Edwards