There are those who say it's long past time for country music to cowboy up. Most of them are fans of Jay Teter. "I grew up on a 120-acre horse and cattle farm," Teter says. "And I've spent the last seven years getting paid to sing and ride horses. Putting this album out and making the leap to the national stage is just the next logical step."

And it might just be the genre's next logical step. While country has had its share of real cowboy singers--George Strait and Chris LeDoux being two of the most recent--many in the new hats-and-Wranglers crowd grew up riding banana-seaters in the suburbs. For Quarterback Records and Jay Teter, the next generation's time is now.

This story is about more than authenticity, however, as its protagonist presents more than a few interesting contradictions. The square-jawed Teter certainly has the cowboy credentials, but he's a Michigan cowboy with a college degree. And while that degree is in the appropriate Animal Science field, he started pre-med. A new artist making his first run at national airplay, Teter is actually on his fourth album. And to top it all off, he has already honed his live performance chops not in small dives and honky tonks, but by performing for quite literally several million people.

Then there's his first single, "Cowboy Ride," a grinding, cleverly flirtacious groove in which this fan of traditional country music references, of all artists, Kid Rock. It's not jayteter.com's first surprise, nor is it the last. He may be a cowboy, baby, but Jay isn't content to just bring his favored music back. He wants to kick it forward.

Born in Ohio, Teter moved with his family to Michigan as an infant. "I was a farm kid," he says. "We had quarter horses, cattle, the whole bit. I listened to my dad's favorites all the time--Conway Twitty, Willie Nelson, Ray Price--all the old school stuff. My mom was a huge Elvis fan, so I heard a lot of that, too."

There's more to the family's musical connection than just an appreciation. His father was a studio musician before Jay was born. "He worked for RCA in the late Fifities, early Sixties," Teter explains. "Back when they had staff studio musicians. He actually got to play on some of Elvis's stuff. He backed George Jones and a did lot of other cool gigs."

While it might seem a career in music was an inevitability, Teter was the fifth of six children and, amazingly, the first to show a serious interest in music. "I sang in church and at family reunions," he says, "but it wasn't until high school, right about the time Garth, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt and Clint Black came out, that I really figured out this was something I wanted to do."

Teter's dad showed him a few chords on the guitar and sent his son off to Michigan State to start college. Jay was diligent about his playing and soon began writing songs to play at small coffee house gigs he drummed up around campus. "I used to get up early in the mornings, turn on TNN and play along with the videos, learning songs by ear," he says. "One morning there was an advertisement about auditions for Opryland. I called the number and they told me the tryouts in Michigan were the next day.

"So I skipped class, grabbed my guitar and some background tapes and jumped in the truck. I think they were kind of surprised to find a country singer in Michigan. Turns out they'd had auditions up there for several years, but always found singers for the Fifties rock and roll shows."

Needless to say, Teter made the cut and embarked on year career in country stage shows that took him from San Antonio to Myrtle Beach to Pigeon Forge. His cowboy background--including a stint as a rodeo bull rider in college--served him well in the world famous Dixie Stampede where he worked his way up from riding horses to emceeing the show.

During this time, Jay worked toward his ultimate goal by performing solo shows and recording three independent albums. A chance Fan Fair encounter at Nashville's famed Tootsie's Orchid Lounge introduced him to producer Tamera Petrash, who had apprenticed with the likes of Jimmy Bowen and Byron Gallimore. The two formed an almost instant musical bond, and the seeds of an album were planted.

The result, jayteter.com, leads off with "Darker Places." Teter says it was important to start with a statement of faith. "Brad Paisley and I, back before we had deals, used to talk about that old tradition of putting a Gospel song on every album," he says. "It's one of those traditions that's worth keeping."

Teter shows he's not afraid to cut loose on the country rocker "Rough Cut," then turns stone country on the instant classic heartbreak ballad "I Did In Dallas." "I Don't Want To Say Goodnight" invokes warm Latin breezes, while "The Pick-up Song" is a hilarious accumulation of pick-up lines Teter and his co-writers have heard.

Other Teter co-writes include "Until You Find Your Mr. Right," the too-honest lament of a man who isn't quite his lover's dream, and "Football, Beer & You," the anthem of every guy who'd rather heft a longneck than a nine-iron.

Ultimately, the album is the embodiment of an unusually artistically developed debut artist. "I've probably had more studio experience than a lot of new artists, I've figured out who I am as an artist and I know what it takes to be consistent night after night on stage. Most of all I can't wait to bring the traditional cowboy style back."

Hear that country fans? Cowboy up!