Suffer in Peace

Personnel: Tyler Farr (background vocals); Derek Wells, B. James Lowry (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Dan Dugmore (electric guitar, steel guitar); Troy Lancaster, Adam Shoenfeld (electric guitar); Jeff Roach (piano, Hammond b-3 organ, keyboards); Julian King (keyboards, percussion programming); Miles McPherson (drums, percussion, percussion programming); Wes Hightower (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Julian King.
Recording information: Blackbird Studios, Nashville, TN; Loud Recording And Sound Stage Studios, Nashville, TN.
Photographer: Joseph Llanes.
Tyler Farr had a hit with the slow-crawling menace of "Redneck Crazy," a tune where he seemed neither backwoods nor mad, but its masculine gait fit the outer reaches of bro country in 2013. Two years later, Farr returns with Suffer in Peace, a bigger, beefier record that also marches to a deliberate beat. Often, Farr recalls Jason Aldean, a connection underscored on the duet "Damn Good Friends." Much of Suffer in Peace moves at a steady midtempo. Even the nominal party songs don't move along at a quick clip; they swing low and heavy. Such steady rhythms, combined with a fondness for minor keys and Farr's gruff voice, mean Suffer in Peace sometimes seems to favor its misery a little too strongly, but it does have its charms. Usually, they're the outright ballads -- the stately, sad title track and its doppelganger "Criminal," and the drinking ballad "A Guy Walks Into a Bar." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine