On his third full-length, and second since the demise of his band, former I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House front man Michael Dean Damron is back with another collection of soured-but-not-desolate tales of life on the dark side of town. Entitled "Father’s Day", Damron’s third solo outing continues on down the path of his Steve Earle, Waylon Jennings, Townes Van Zandt leanings, paying homage to his musical influences, while making everything distinctively his own. The anti-hipster, country-folk-rock sound of his songs are as real as they get: bloody on the knuckles, aching in the heart, and covered in regret, dismay, shame, and, optimistically, redemption and kindness. It’s true, Damron pulls no punches and never holds his tongue, sometimes a word or phrase away from making you cry, while at other times a word or phrase into engaging, enraging, and making you think. The title track sums up Damron’s outlook on life and the choices one makes: "Son, if you wanna go far, get yourself a good pair of walking boots. They’ll take you where you need to be. They’ll take you far away from me," a traumatizing chorus from a father to son about abandonment and finding new hope. Damron later sings, "he died all alone, in a high Nevada dessert. Years of hard living made him paper-thin. He died all alone, God was not present. Wish I had been there to comfort him." It is with this that Damron pulls the song together and, like all his songs, takes all the hard-knocks of life and shakes them off with love and a longing for repair. Always one for controversy, humor, and smiling through tragedy, the album’s controversial track, "I Hope Your New Boyfriend Gives You Aids," is the story of Damron’s former drummer who, during a breakup with a girlfriend, screamed at her, "I hope your new boyfriend gives you A.I.D.S." The drummer would later burn his bridge with Damron the same way he torched it with his ex girlfriend, leaving Damron to pen the sadly beautiful song, and shake things up with a title that would throw people for a loop, much like life does. Showing love for Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott, one of Damron’s favorite bands and songwriters, a cover of "Dancing in the Moonlight" offers serenity and rays of sunshine to the album’s otherwise bleak outlook. While his cover of Drag the River’s "Beautiful and Damned", offers promise and potential amongst doom and despair. Never one to shy away from politics, Damron delivers one for the working poor, homeless, and poverty-stricken with "Angels Fly Up", a shot at those with money and power that horde it and continue on a path to hurt others. With his gruff, world-traveled voice, weary eyes, and potent guitar, Damron pens some of the harshest looks on reality from a point-of-view he knows all too well. Whether its love, death, addiction, or every day struggles, Damron tackles them with knowledge and experience, ensuring his songs come straight from the heart, delivered irony-free and with plenty of sympathy and compassion for those that relate all too well to them. "Father’s Day" is Damron’s most honest album to date. A record that is as much a piece of him as his heart is. Gut-wrenching, tear-jerking, with blood coursing through every song’s veins, here is a record that is a reaction to every white-belt wearing, tight pants hipster that dwells in cool factor instead of real life. Damron doesn’t care if you like him, like his music, or want to be his friend. He just cares about speaking the truth, standing up for those without a voice, and writing songs that, if you hear them and relate to them, offer you some solace and comfort.