Though the genres overlap in sound and history, country and bluegrass don’t always go hand in hand. Eastern Kentucky band The Creekers revels in that middle space, though, telling country tales with bluegrass instrumentation on this follow-up to 2024’s Pour Me in the Creek. The sextet masterfully blurs genres on these dozen songs, finding a groove from the jump on opening track “Follow the Sound.” On that tune, frontman Tanner Horton recalls SteelDrivers-era Chris Stapleton with his gritty, soulful vocals, while Anna Blanton’s fiddle counters his growl with conversational licks and a genuinely high, lonesome sound. “Swarpin’” takes its name from a regional slang word for partying, and it delivers on its title with some lightning-quick picking and playfully rowdy lyrics. Jamey Johnson, long known for his ability to bridge the gap between bluegrass and country, joins the band on highlight “Outlaw Song,” a dusky, sincere rebuke of the kind of country cosplay that tends to dominate both genres.