

Editors’ Notes Jason Boland is a literate, leftist, alt-country songwriter: Texas’ answer to Jason Isbell. His subtle tunes have enough juice to win over a honky-tonk, and he’s funny, too: "Fat and Merry" is a stomping, tongue-in-cheek ode to bourgeois ideas of happiness, and on "I Guess It's Alright to Be an A*****e" he turns up the distortion, wrapping his weathered voice around a punk jam about getting ahead. These songs prove that traditionalism doesn't always equal conservatism—in music or politics.
Break 19
1
3:00
The First to Know
2
3:37
I Guess It's Alright to Be an A*****e
3
2:02
Holy Relic Sale
4
3:42
Heartland Bypass
5
4:34
Lose Early
6
4:32
Do You Love Me Any Less
7
3:47
Fat and Merry
8
3:11
Christmas in Huntsville
9
3:07
Bienville
10
4:35
F**k, Fight, and Rodeo
11
2:09