The eighth album by Alberta-born John Wort Hannam sees the singer/songwriter flirting with humour in at least a couple of places. Known for his more serious material, songs like the fabulous “Beautiful Mess”, a country duet with an equally fabulous Shaela Miller comes as a pleasant surprise, especially the very notion of throwing in the ‘god-damn cat’ with the Lou Reed record as a parting gesture. Likewise “Meat Draw” finds Hannam in a cheerful disposition as he takes a look at the finer aspects of small town life. On a slightly more serious note, Hannam takes a cathartic look at his own life in “What I Know Now”, a deeply moving meditation on regret, with such insightful lines as ‘I wish I told my father but I was not of age, How to treat my mother but I was not brave’. Such honesty shines through clearly on this and other songs on this excellent album.