Steeped in the '70s tradition of Lone Star country/folk poets like Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, Hayes Carll came to prove that the 21st century had room for a new hardscrabble Texas troubadour. Sometimes Hayes relies on gently fingerpicked acoustic guitar to get his point across (as on the reflective lope of "Beaumont"), while sometimes he turns things up and rides a greasy guitar riff to glory, like on the turbocharged soldier's story "Kmag Yoko." Whichever way he leans, though, his black-humored storytelling is always at the core of his music.