Lee Brice's new album comes out on Tuesday (Sept. 9), and I can't wait. It's impossible to pigeonhole him, so it's just as impossible to grow weary of him.

I know that this album isn't going to be song after song on the same theme. And he makes music that way on purpose.

"If stuff starts getting same-y on the radio, then it gets hard to listen to songs that aren't the same," Brice told me during his recent visit to Chicago. He added, "But if you love a song, and you're true to yourself, you can keep your mind open. I know who I am, and as long as I'm real, I don't mind stepping out on a limb."

Says the process of making the new album, I Don't Dance, taught him that variety is what keeps country music strong.

"We've got to keep the subject matter of country music staying diverse," Brice said. "That's something that Garth (Brooks) did so much of. He'd have a story song, then an anthem, then a love song, then a song that made you think about life. He was my role model, and that's what I want to do."

Staying true to that, Brice is following up his last three singles -- a story song, a party song and then the album's falling-madly-in-love title track --with a blue collar, working man's anthem called "Drinking Class."

So while country radio can tend to get a little same-y, Brice never will.