Second official “solo” album from man of many bands and collaborations (Mekons, Waco Brothers, and Pine Valley Cosmonauts to name the most notorious). Langford makes what he and other non-music-industry-addled people call “country and western music” but which is no doubt indigestable by the TNN-saturated fans and backers of G. Brooks and S. Twain, to say nothing of those of Toby Keith, who might have serious objections to Langford’s insufficient “Kick Ay-rab ass”-itude. Langford merely writes memorable, from-the-heart tunes reminiscent of the real forebears – Hank Williams, George Jones, Bob Wills, Loretta Lynn – and performs them with gusto, not faked cool.
So then, great honky-tonk tunes. Masterful!! A frequent collaborator here is Jon Rice, who’s played many duet dates with J.L. and who is excellent at providing textural embellishment to J.L.’s simple tunes. Oh, and I shouldn’t let pass a chance to mention that the artwork (and artwork for many other Langford and some non-Langford releases is by Langford himself).

1. Stuttering rhythm and smooth dobro slides, often in unison with J.L.’s vocals; burst of guitar in the middle
2. More Western than Country, with a jazzy swing; “the country is not stupid, even though it’s silent; even though it has ears and eyes, it can’t find its mouth”; not quite fluent but direct
3. Dobro by Jon Rice again prominent on an homage to space travel, and not ignoring the USSR’s pioneering trips up there either; I love the down-home dobro and guitar vs. the space lyrics
4. Given Langford’s critiques of the USA’s behavior (though he does live here), this is a very gentle and good-humored judgement on his adopted home’s missteps in the world – that the US is a clumsy but fun toddler that doesn’t understand its own powers and also needs to learn that others exist
5. Twangy swinging tune employing many “hard” phrases
6. The screechy guitar break redeems what I think is not a very compelling melody unfortunately echoed by vocals and accompaniment
7. A snappy and electric version of Langford’s tune about being a country musician who doesn’t trust anything connected with Nashville; disdain vs. temptation/desire all day every day
8. Fast mandolin pickin’ and direct lyrics
9. I love this credit – “recorded off the radio by Jon Rice … thanks to XRT”; pretty acoustic tune
10. Barroom burner with piano; “asshole” and “fucking”, neither in a sexual context, appear in the lyrics
11. Way too short mid-tempo blues shuffle recorded live in a Chicago bar; note – this tune ends with 1:15 remaining and a short 30-second (com)plaint rounds out the track; the 30-second bit includes “fucking” as an adjective