Memphis native Joe Leathers started making a name as a country songsmith in the mid-2000s, mixing the plainspoken and the poetic on tunes that reflect the real lives of everyday people, like Craig Morgan’s hit “Tough”. Co-writing with the legendary Guy Clark, he even made the songwriting life itself relatable on the Kenny Chesney classic “Hemingway’s Whiskey”. Leathers has rock ’n’ roll in his soul, too; it bursts through on the Lee Brice working people’s anthem “Sons and Daughters” and Randy Houser’s party-starting “Absolutely Nothing”.