Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind

Hayes Carll has become in recent years the epitome of the troubadour singer-songwriter. World weary and ragged, with his trademark irony and black humour seeping through his tales of small town America and life on the road.

Despite his independent stance, he eventually succumbed to major label overtures and his 2008 release Trouble In Mind is his first for Lost Highway. However, any lingering doubts that his new label would dull the edge of his music are immediately swept away from the first bars of the rollicking Drunken Poet's Dream.

If anything, the standard of songwriting and performance throughout Trouble In Mind manage to eclipse his excellent Little Rock, which is no mean feat.

The priceless combination of Townes/Prine influenced sharply-observed country-folk (Girl Downtown, Willing To Love Again) alongside bluesy, stones-esque movers (Bad Liver and a Broken Heart, I Don't Wanna Grow Up) are underpinned by Carll's irreverent sense of humour, with the album's final cut She Left Me For Jesus perhaps the pick of the bunch.

Brad Jones' excellent production on Trouble In Mind with an all-star cast of musicians including Fats Kaplin, Darrell Scott, Pat Buchanan, Will Kimbrough plus the evergreen Al Perkins on Steel, Lap Steel and Banjo, complement Carll's whiskey-soaked delivery perfectly.

• Drunken Poet's Dream
• It's a Shame
• Girl Downtown
• Bad Liver and a Broken Heart
• Beaumont
• I Got a Gig
• Faulkner Street
• Wild as a Turkey
• Don't Let Me Fall
• Lover Like You
• I Don't Wanna Grow Up
• Knockin' Over Whiskeys
• Willing to Love Again
• She Left Me for Jesus