If the cover depicting as a bunch of tough yet well-groomed carnies wasn't an indication that their 2005 effort captures a rougher, rowdier version of the veteran band, the opening title cut confirms it. A galloping bluesy rocker, patterned on a -tent singalong but sounding like pure , it's a welcome change from the cautious crossover of 2002's and it's a good indication of what the overriding character of the album is. Throughout much of the rest of the album, favor loose, lean, humorous country-rockers, whether it's spiking 's with "ooga-chakas" lifted from 's take on ' or doing a spirited cover of It's as if the group heard the raunchy sounds of and and decided the way to compete was going for straight-ahead . Of course, this is , the group that first came to fame on , so they haven't abandoned their taste for big sentiment, and they have two of their most unbearably mawkish numbers to date here: a tale of a father dying from lung cancer, and its flip side, a tale about a newborn baby. These are syrupy, drippy tunes, but they don't slow down the album too much, since most of the record moves along briskly -- the hooks are plentiful, the band sounds tight, and the production is uncluttered, making for their best record in over a decade. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine