A shade gentler and more traditional than his 2007 debut, Don’t Let Go, the 2012 album Everybody Loves a Cowboy shows Justin McBride stepping away from the adrenaline that made him a rodeo champion—and into the mellow, if sometimes uncertain, satisfactions of the retired life. “Highways and Honky Tonks,” “Never Gets Lonely Here,” and “That’s Why I’m Here” portray a listless barroom existence in the tradition of Merle Haggard and Moe Bandy, but McBride seems more content than he had in years past. “A Fire That Just Won’t Burn” and “It Makes Me Lean” are convincing drinking songs in the traditional mold, though the jazzy lilt underneath “Never Gets Lonely Here” shows that McBride has a softer heart than he wants to let on. The sweet, easy-rolling “Everybody Loves a Cowboy” is one of the album's best songs. But that track carries a bittersweet undertone in the context of the rest of the album, so much of which is focused on the indolence of retirement. Everybody Loves a Cowboy closes with “It’s a Sure Been a Good Ride,” a song that might seem premature for a 33-year-old singer. Then again, this professional tough guy has lived 10 lifetimes.