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.” Cowriting 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.”