[4] Paste gave it a positive review, describing Carll's music as "simple songs that are simply grand".

[5] Allmusic gave it three and a half stars, calling it "a worthy addition to the ever-growing catalog of sly Texas country-rock".

[8] The Washington Post also gave it a favorable review, with Bill Friskics-Warren stating that on the album Carll is "setting some standards of his own".

[9] No Depression also viewed the album favorably, calling Carll "a sort of Charles Bukowski in the age of anti-depressants...a poet for thoughtful roughnecks and ne’er-do-wells".

[14] New York Daily News gave it three stars out of five, Jim Farber calling Carll an "ace storyteller".