Charlie Robison - Good Times

With a dedication on Good Times that reads 'for Emily, my star, and Gus, my son,' the album finds its inspiration in the life Charlie Robison has come to love since marrying the former Emily Erwin of the Dixie Chicks and fathering Charles Augustus Robison, ('Gus' after a favorite literary characters, from Larry McMurtry's classic Texas epic, Lonesome Dove).

When they're not in the midst of balancing dual musical careers, Charlie and Emily Robison are more concerned with baling hay, raising cattle and training quarter horses on their spread outside Bandera, where Robison's family has ranched for eight generations since the 1840s.

In heartfelt balladry such as Photograph and the bittersweet Always, Robison shows just how much he's grown as both a writer and a singer, plumbing depths of emotions that go well beyond the roadhouse dancefloor. Both the beyond-the-grave Magnolia (which could be Robison's Long Black Veil) and the evocatively detailed New Year's Day reflect his command as a narrative songwriter. Yet just in case someone thinks he's taking his craft a little too seriously, he shows his playful side on Love Means Never Having to Say You're Hungry which may or may not be about home cooking ...!

Listen to samples:

• Good Times
• New Year's Day
• El Cerrito Place
• Big City Blues
• The Bottom
• Love Means Never Having To Say You're Hungry
• Photograph
• Something In The Water
• Always
• Flatland Boogie
• Magnolia