Aaron Watson’s ninth studio album was released in 2012, but it reaches back a few decades to when Texas country singers like George Strait and Clint Black wore big cowboy hats and played new traditional–styled twang. More traditional than new-sounding, Watson infuses a good measure of his Abilene, Texas, roots into Real Good Time, starting with the fast-paced honky-tonkin’ title track. He follows this with the fiddle-heavy “Summertime Girl,” where his gritty tenor recalls a summer romance that keeps him warm in the winter. Through a sepia-toned nostalgia, he works in some American small-town imagery here. Justin McBride chimes in on the rollicking roadhouse groover “Cadillac Cowboy”; its Bakersfield-flavored Telecaster picking sounds like it's by the ghost of the late, great Don Rich (from Buck Owens’ band The Buckaroos). A slightly out-of-tune parlor piano adds the kind of comforting vibe found in those old-time saloons with peanut shells and sawdust on the floors. Elizabeth Cook lends her silky voice to a standout duet, a cover of Stevie Nicks' "Leather and Lace.”