[7] End Time was the first Freakwater album to employ a drum kit, which was played by the Waco Brothers' Steve Goulding.

"[21] Spin concluded that, "though pedal steel and Hammond organ swell like sobs, the group's tenderness can sometimes seem drab, and the album flirts boozily with the old country plague of overproduction.

"[17] The Guardian praised the "stiff, serious-minded pastoral songwriting on the rocks, not for the passing hypochondriac or alternative rocker dabbling in neo-country on the side.

"[22] The Province stated that "Bean and Irwin's rough-hewn harmonies and witty, literate lyrics prove they've been drinking at the same freaky well Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris dipped into 30 years ago.

"[19] The San Diego Union-Tribune noted that it is the "desire to celebrate, and extend, musical traditions that gives Freakwater's best songs a haunting dark beauty.