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I've got great news for the gentlemen of Small Town Sleeper.

You guys are gonna be millionaires.

Your songs are gonna be played on the radio so many times that, somewhere down the road, I'll probably have to write another column cursing corporate playlists.

But you'll be millionaires, so who cares what I say, right?

Now the bad news.

Nobody has a clue when any of this might happen.

The Urbana-based band's debut album, "Conversations," was recorded in 2006, and still doesn't have a release date.

"The artist is the last to know about anything," lead singer Troy Brown said recently, maybe only half-joking.

When it does drop — as of now, it's available via iTunes and at gigs — watch out.

It isn't just an album.

It's a collection of monster Top 40 hits.

Brown was nice enough to drop a CD in the mail to me, and with the announcement that Small Town Sleeper will play the Summer Arts Festival on June 19, I figured now's the time for the big review.

A good deal of honesty on the part of de facto leader Brown has made my job easy.

He makes no excuses for the radio-friendly pop-rock of STS.

He'll also be the first to admit that, despite being on an indie label (Upper 11 Records), STS will most likely be lumped in more with groups of Nickelback's ilk than true (well, hip) indie bands.

And that's fine.

Nickelback, he reasoned, sells all the albums.

So Small Town Sleeper might as well steel themselves now for commercial riches — but critical blahs.

You've got to respect Brown's honesty, and I'm willing to concede that some bands are put on this Earth to just crank out hit after hit.

Still living locally, Small Town Sleeper is that band.

Hey, believe me, as a guy with student loans, I'd want to sell as many CDs and MP3s to as many people as possible.

It's also a relief to learn that STS — Brown, lead guitarist Derek Snowden, bassist Will Greider and drummer Dann Burd — in no way, shape or form, is as bad as Nickelback.

That said, songwriter Brown still isn't a fully evolved wordsmith. The lead-off track, "Let Me Go," opens with the awkward lyrics, "I love you, but I hate the intelligence of your mouth."

But seconds later, the band rockets in with a hook so big you could hang a side of beef on it.

On most of the disc, it hardly matters what Brown sings. From rockers to ballads (with strings, no less) these guys have drilled directly into the center of Top 40 catchiness.

The first single, "Backseat," is pretty catchy, too, but nowhere close to "Candy."

Pop odes to sugar-sweet chicks named Candy are nothing new (the Strangeloves did one clear back in 1965 with "I Want Candy").

But Small Town Sleeper's "Candy" builds and crashes into one of those mile-wide hooks.

If there's an obvious reference point for STS, it's not Nickelback (thank God). It's more Matchbox 20.

Brown so freakishly channels Rob Thomas' writing style on "Can You Relate Too?" that it's only a matter of time.

You know, before Santana calls up for a duet.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0352 or amcginn@coxohio.com.

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