Ever since forming his backing group in 2003, has specialized in exploring various paths in country music's past. , his 2017 album, continues this tradition by taking them and his crew out west to collaborate with in a fevered Fantasia of cowboys, truck drivers, surfers, and other rebels. The brilliant thing about is that doesn't limit himself to either the pile-driving sounds of Bakersfield or the burnished country & western sounds of Hollywood cowhands. Each of these styles gets its own showcase -- "Air Mail Special" rampages like the best of , "Old Mexico" splits the difference between and -- but not only swaps these sounds, he synthesizes them, so winds up playing like an idealized version of California country. To that end, he even incorporates the big jangle of -- "Time Don't Wait" rings and swirls like prime 1966 psychedelia, a move that shouldn't come as a surprise with as the album's producer -- and creates a holy ruckus on "Quicksand," which plays like teaming with a Cosmic American honky tonk band to play a dive in Santa Monica, or "Please Don't Say Goodbye," a shimmering desert ballad that hints at the lush soundscapes of . For anybody familiar with the rich traditions of West Coast country and roots music, it's fun to spot the influences on , but this is neither an exercise nor a history listen. are having an outright blast indulging in their imagined wild west, and the end results are so clever and kinetic, they're difficult to resist. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine