Before Toby Keith emerged as country music's redneck poster boy thanks to jingoistic post-9/11 tripe like Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American), he was just another fair-to-middlin' guitar-picker with a sandy throat and the usual slate of heartbreak ballads and upbeat twosteppers.

And now that the rabble no longer need rousing, Keith returns to his old self on the personable and personal Honkytonk University. Aside from a pandering shout-out to his "boys in Afghanistan and Baghdad," the pointedly apolitical Honkytonk University ignores foreign affairs to focus on homegrown tales of falling in and out of love.

Perhaps it's a little too focused. Lyrically, these dozen tracks can be painfully repetitive -- Keith is either watching his woman pack up and go or hanging out in a bar picking up a new one.

That said, the autobiographically nostalgic title cut is a keeper, and there's enough twangy, winking honkytonk to earn nods for tracks like You Ain't Leavin' (Thank God Are Ya) and She Left Me (see what we mean about repetitive?).

But even if Honkytonk University is one-dimensional and lightweight, it still beats jingoistic tripe any day of the week.

Track Listing:

1. Honkytonk U
2. As Good As I Once Was
3. She Ain't Hooked On Me No More
4. Big Blue Note
5. Just The Guy To Do It
6. She Left Me
7. Knock Yourself Out
8. You Ain't Leavin' (Thank God Are Ya)
9. I Got It Bad
10. Your Smile
11. Where You Gonna Go
12. You Caught Me At A Bad Time