Hayes Carll is wildly literate, utterly slackerly, and impossibly romantic.  The 41-year old Texan is completely committed to the truth and unafraid to skewer pomposity, hypocrisy and small-minded thinking. Carll connects with music lovers across genres lines. Playing rock clubs and honkytonks, he combines Ray Wylie Hubband’s lean freewheeling squalor with Todd Snider’s brazen Gen Y reality and a healthy dose of love amongst unhealthy people.  He also looks to Kerouac, Dylan, Guy Clark, and John Prine for inspiration. Fiercely individual, Carll’s banged-up take on classic country is honed by the road – sometimes as a man and guitar, sometimes with his scrappy band, but always taking in the vistas and humanity before him. Like so many Texans before him, there’s no agony in the ecstasy – just the wonder of capturing the perfect character in the song. When you’re 6 beers down on a 12 pack night, you know Hayes Carll understands. At a time like that – whether in your own backyard or some jam-packed bar – that’s the best kind of friend to have. About his new album he says: “Lovers and Leavers” isn’t funny or raucous. There are very few hoots and almost no hollers.. But it is joyous, and it makes me smile. No, it’s not my “Blood on the Tracks,” nor is it any kind of opus. It’s my fifth record — a reflection of a specific time and place. It is quiet, like I wanted it to be. Like I wanted to be."