{^White Trash Beautiful} is {$Everlast}'s third LP since he exited the House of Pain and took up the reigns of conscience-driven, streetwise roots {\rap}. It's been a long time coming. In music biz terms, 2000's critically acclaimed {^Eat at Whitey's} was a dud next to {^Whitey Ford Sings the Blues}' multi-platinum success. That and the wacko record label commingling of the early 2000s found {$Everlast} label-less and lonely. A survivor, he started recording in his home studio and gravitated to the dusky {\country} of outlaws like {$Willie Nelson} and {$Waylon Jennings}. Those sounds inform {^White Trash} in spirit, if not necessarily in direct practice. For from the opening strains of the hard-luck story {&"Blinded by the Sun,"} it's clear that the former {$Erik Schrody}'s been hearing not only {\country} records but country grammar, too, as well as the organic rappalachia of {$Bubba Sparxxx}. {^White Trash} is a more effective mix of {\hip-hop} trope and bluesy strum because, in the years since {^Whitey's}, what {$Everlast} helped start has been finished by types like the above artists, {$Kid Rock}, even {$OutKast}. The relative novelty of {\hip-hop} hitting up {\country} and {\rock} has worn away; {$Everlast} can go ahead and kick that chip off his shoulder. Musically, {$Everlast} and longtime producer {$Dante Ross} still get a lot of mileage out of pairing his gruff delivery with spare acoustic guitar, and layering the whole thing over a subdued {\hip-hop} bump (think {&"What's It's Like"}). {$Everlast} too still stumbles over the occasional {\rap} cliché, like the street bravado/cynicism verses of {&"God Wanna"} ("I'll act like {$Ike Turner}/Then treat you like {$Tina}"), or {&"Sleepin' Alone"}'s clunky relationship woe. The gritty {&"2 Pieces of Drama"} is better, with its {$B Real} guest shot and referencing of {$Cypress Hill}'s {&"Hand on the Pump,"} but {^White Trash} is best when it's blending {\country} and {\blues} into {$Everlast}'s finely rendered tales of street-level loneliness. With its rain effects, slide guitar, and {$Hank Williams} interpolation, {&"This Kind of Lonely"} could be Nashville product with just a bit of tweaking, while the gentle pain of first single {&"Broken"} is tinged with cello and theremin. {&"Lonely Road"} opens up into the album's most hopeful melody, led forth by surging fiddle and a quiet acoustic lead. "My back is strong," he sings. "I'll carry the load." Even if he's sad for a lot of it, {$Everlast} also has some fun on {^White Trash Beautiful}. {&"Sad Girl"} sports a slight {\Latin} flair in its chords as {$Everlast} describes his latest infatuation. "Sittin' in a pearl white Eldorado/In a gangsta lean she was revvin' the throttle," he relates. "She looked like {$Selena}/The truth couldn't be plaina." Overall it's a welcome return for {$Everlast} -- he sounds comfortable and confident, even in his heartbreak. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide