Railroad Earth's songs are well-crafted stories, and are delivered with outstanding musicianship and strong vocals.

The musical duties are distributed in pretty much the same way here as on their previous two releases: Todd Sheaffer handles vocals and guitar and does the bulk of the songwriting; John Skehan, Tim Carbone, and Andy Goessling provide the band's trademark swirling-and-skirling texture; new bassist Johnny Grubb (replacing Dave Von Dollen) and percussionist Carey Harmon provide the solid ground they take off from and land on.

Shaeffer often writes tunes about love, being positive, and living a simpler life paired with catchy refrains and memorable melodies, and this effort is not different in that regard.

Re-occurring themes of examining one's destiny, living a good life, and staying true to one's self resound.

"Way of the Buffalo" is an environmental allegory and the title track, "The Good Life," is about living free and "going back to the country" evoking images of a simpler time.