Over four albums, Church has become one of country music’s biggest stars, mixing driving rock with songs that hymn blue-collar heroes, not so differently from Bruce Springsteen, who was namechecked on an early single. Mr Misunderstood maintains the formula with Church’s customary swagger and twanging vocals. The title track promises a teenage misfit that he’ll become a “guitar hero with lightning hands”, Knives of New Orleans takes the part of a criminal on the run, and Record Year features a stranded lover nursing heartache to “a three-foot stack of vinyl”. There’s a soul-tinged duet with blues singer Susan Tedeschi and Three Year Old, a tribute to his son, that’s heartfelt, if cloying.
