This Texas coaster covers plenty of bases on his third album, many of them alcoholic, and the tastiest perched between stadium rockabilly and Dylan-worship folk rock. Whether he’s feeling nostalgic for small-town foibles or fancying himself a drunken poet knockin’ over whiskeys with his bad liver and broken heart, he’s cornier than he thinks. But he sure knows how to do the heartland stomp, and when he threatens to kick Jesus’ commie ass for stealing his girl, he’s funny enough that you cut his smarmy side slack.
