The album features Prine indulging his love for early rock and roll, with the singer telling David Fricke in 1993, "I wanted to do something noisy, something like if you had a buddy with a band and you walked into his house and you could hear 'em practicing in the basement."

In the album's liner notes Prine wrote, "What we tried to achieve here is a recording of a five-piece band with a vocalist playing and singing good honest music."

"[7] As Prine biographer Eddie Huffman observes, "For the first time in his recording career, lyrics were clearly a secondary concern; he was now focused much more on rhythm and the raw feel of the tracks.

These include Arthur Gunter's "Baby, Let's Play House", made famous by Elvis Presley, and Charles Underwood's "Ubangi Stomp".

Prine added that on "Saigon", Phillips intentionally blew the tubes out of guitarist John Burns' amplifier so he could get the sound of "pieces of hot metal flying through the air."

"[6] The Los Angeles Times noted that "most of Prine's tunes rely on fairly standard folk, country or rock melodies, but the lyrics are captivating and he sings them with a conviction that is rare in an age of over-polished pop production.

"[8] The Buffalo News called the album "an authentic roadhouse record," writing that "Prine's got what sounds like a rough and ready houseband.