The Jukebox In Your Heart

By his third studio solo album, Mike Stinson had seen Dwight Yoakam cover his “Late Great Golden State” (reworked here) and dated Lucinda Williams and then renowned rock groupie/author Pamela Des Barres. Needless to say, Stinson had plenty of subject matter to muse on for the songs on 2010’s The Jukebox in Your Heart. By this time, he'd left Los Angeles for Houston. The geographical shift can be heard in his music, starting with the Lone Star honky-tonk of “Stop the Bar,” a timeless-toned dipsomaniacal tune where Stinson sings of hiding out from domestic drama in his favorite saloon. Recorded at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studios in Austin, these songs balance a bygone Bakersfield sound with Red Dirt country—which better suits Stinson’s voice, as he sings like a missing member of The Flatlanders. In the hushed “Square with the World,” he sings about choosing to make a living over aspiring to make a killing. It’s a window into Stinson’s decision to leave behind the plastic hassles of L.A. for a simpler life in Texas.