You’re lost driving down some long, dusty, Texas back road. You’re in the middle of nowhere. You see some lights on in what looks to be a rundown shack up ahead. You turn into the gravel parking lot, park next to a couple of pick-ups, and head inside. The people inside don’t look like rednecks, but they look weathered and worn. They nurse their beers as they stare up at the stage. The guy onstage is Radney Foster.

Foster’s been doing this literate Texas songwriter thing for over 20 years Starting out as half of the duo Foster and Lloyd, he has since released a large body of solo work that made him a favorite of Texas songwriters such as Pat Green, as well as country favorites like Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney. Sara Evans’ version of his “Real Fine Place to Start” was a huge hit for her last year.

For This World We Live In, Foster wanted a rootsy sound, so he cut the entire CD in two days. His experiment works. The songs have a certain ragged glory to them. Opening cut, “Drunk on Love” gets boots tapping. The lead character sounds like someone who’s had a few too many, but then you realize that he’s, well, the title pretty much explains it.

While Foster’s writing and singing is reminiscent of the swagger of a young Dwight Yoakam, he also displays some of the introspection and observational skills of a Guy Clark or Townes Van Zandt. His characters, for all their boasting and bragging, retain a bit of self-doubt (“Prove Me Right”) and more than their share of wisdom (“Half of My Mistakes”).

Foster’s biggest fault is his habit for slipping into cliché, both in theme and in lyrics. In the ballad “The Kindness of Strangers” a nervous man breaks down in front of a prostitute fresh out of Pretty Woman. She offers him his money back and says she’ll pray for him. Closing song “Never Gonna Fly” is one of those trite inspiration songs that people end up hanging on their office walls. “You can’t be scared to risk it all/You’re never gonna fly/If you’re afraid to fall.”

But country fans are used to such misgivings as long as the music provides the goods. Foster and his band provide that here. This is good old fashioned stripped-down country, with just enough R&B and rock (guitarist Waddy Wachtel has played with everyone from the Rolling Stones and Warren Zevon to Roxy Music and Fleetwood Mac) to keep butts off bar stools. He’s a Texas troubadour as well as a honky-tonk hero. This World We Live In may not be the breakout album he needs to demonstrate his skills to everyone, but those who buy it will not be disappointed.