The album's title truck is a bluesy folk song about the broken-down nature of humanity. He has a bit of Slaid Cleaves running though his singing/writing style, which is a big plus. "Hard Road to Go" kicks against the pricks of life's troubles. It's a little Woody Guthrie, a little Pete Seeger with its trickling banjo groove. "It's a hard road to go when your gage is stuck on empty," he tells us. But then he reminds us we're all in this life together.

Although the road of life is indeed hard, James Adkins never sounds like a beaten man. Living may not be easy, but there's no stopping this troubadour.