Bryan adopts a moody and swampy tone in this track, which aims to create an atmosphere rather than convey literal meaning. The title, repeated throughout, seemingly references Bob Dylan’s classic “Tangled Up in Blue,” while also incorporating John Coltrane’s name and the phrase “Roll Um Easy,” which is a Little Feat song title. Bryan delivers a rather enigmatic song about a relationship with a woman who “is who she is, but she ain’t who she was before.” Just go with it.

The theme of this mid-tempo track featuring the Turnpike Troubadours is that you can take the man out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the man. It features beautiful instrumentation including violin, cello, mandolin, fiddle, and banjo. Bryan and Evan Felker of the Troubadours share lead vocals here, their voices harmonizing seamlessly in this simple tune about “the beauty of the barren land.”

This is as close as Bryan gets to a happy love song as he reflects on life and past struggles, ultimately concluding with “All I want are your beautiful legs around me/On that Spanish beach where you found me for the rest of my earthly days.” However, this sentiment is intertwined with attempts to find peace with a troubled past while looking back through a new lens that allows for forgiveness.

Bryan critiques industrialization and asserts that technological advancement isn’t always beneficial. The title encapsulates this premise as he sings about how progress has stripped away traditional means of labor: “Took the nail and hammer right out of his hands/sealed up the coffin/sold off the land.” The track opens with a sample of wrestler Dusty Rhodes’ famous speech from 1985 about hard times before Bryan delivers his scathing critique of what passes for progress: “This place don’t look like what it looked like when I was a kid/Can’t you see what a giant step for humanity did?” The focus here is firmly on the lyrics, supported by a steady mid-tempo beat.

In this genial closing track, Bryan offers listeners words of encouragement through advice from an unspecified “she,” suggesting that life will be just fine if you’re kind “when it ain’t easy,” as well as encouraging listeners to “take the telephone off the line awhile” and reminding them that “Oklahoma ain’t in the south.”

Musically, this song carries an easy vibe reminiscent of The Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses,” leaving listeners with a slight sense of melancholy but also comfort that everything might just work out after all.

This track increases the count of rock songs featuring “Lodi” in their titles to two, following Creedence Clearwater Revival’s classic. (Fun fact: John Fogerty is scheduled to perform some dates with Bryan in 2027; perhaps they’ll collaborate on a medley.) It serves as an engaging opener due to its group vocals surrounding Bryan’s plaintive singing, catchy melody, and intriguing swirling synth introduction.

Lyrically, it explores whether one would make different choices if given another chance: “If you could go back to the places you once been/would you run back to her arms or back to Lodi when?” he questions as time ticks away.

Bryan has established himself as an excellent duet partner, particularly with female artists like Kacey Musgraves on “I Remember Everything.” This mid-tempo collaboration with Del Rey is stunning, enhanced by swelling violins and cellos. Like Musgraves, Del Rey possesses a naturally laid-back singing style; neither she nor a vulnerable-sounding Bryan attempts to oversell their performance but instead let the emotional weight of their crumbling relationship unfold as their voices intertwine. While it may not hit quite as hard as “I Remember Everything,” it holds its own beauty.

The energetic track opens with a spoken line from the film The Place Beyond the Pines: “If you ride like lightning, you’re gonna crash like thunder,” before bursting into an upbeat track characterized by relentless rhythm and passionate delivery from Bryan. He sings about being told at birth that he would never amount to anything: “On the day I was born, they told me I would never be something.” It’s one of the shortest songs on the album but stands out for its intensity (and yes, he even includes what sounds like dog barks). His harmonica playing adds an enjoyable touch.