Throughout his decade-and-a-half-long career, Cory Branan has been too punk for country, too country for punk, too Memphis for Nashville, and probably a little too Cory Branan for anyone's damn good. Across three albums, he's made collective struggles poetic and breakthroughs into sympathetic acts of populist heroism. A praise-filled pitch is nearly irrelevant, though, because the songs do all the convincing on his new, fourth album The No-Hit Wonder. There's a timeless craftsmanship in these deceptively simple songs about love and home, losses and dreams. The No-Hit Wonder - song and album - is both a celebratory anthem of the world-weary, undefeated underdogs of the world, and a coming to terms with the cards life has dealt you. For his fourth album Branan called on a who's who cast of heroes and no-hit-wonder peers to flash up the proceedings. Finn and Selvidge of the Hold Steady, Isbell, Caitlin Rose and Austin Lucas ("All the Rivers in Colorado"), and Tim Easton ("Sour Mash") all lend their voices to the cause, while some of Nashville's finest players - Audley Freed (The Black Crowes), John Radford (Justin Townes Earle, Luella and The Sun), Sadler Vaden (The 400 Unit, Drivin and Cryin), and Robbie "The Man of Steel" Turner (Waylon Jennings, Charlie Rich) - hammer the damn thing home.