Angels & Outlaws continues and amplifies the more reflective mood of
Aaron Watson's previous album,
San Angelo, as opposed to the honky tonk swing of his first several releases. The title is indicative, because
Watson's Christian themes have grown to command an ever larger place in his music, and he spends considerably more time singing about the former than the latter here. Even the threatening hook of album opener "Tulsa" ("Don't let the sun go down on you in Tulsa") is delivered not to a romantic rival, but to someone
Watson feels is shirking his God-given duties as a husband and father. Although the album is produced, as always, by
Asleep at the Wheel's
Ray Benson, the honky tonk and Western swing vibe of earlier albums like
The Honky Tonk Kid and
Shutupanddance is similarly dialed back here in favor of midtempo country-pop like "Whiskey on the Fire." Big bonus points for getting the cantankerous outlaw country legend
Billy Joe Shaver to record a verse of Philippians, though. ~ Stewart Mason