Honky-tonk hero Lee Kernaghan wrote his 10th record, 2010’s Planet Country, in the midst of acute strife in Australia—namely, the drought that stretched from the late ‘90s well into the following decade. But it’s not a record of despair; on the contrary, Kernaghan keeps spirits high, opting to celebrate rural life even in the tough times. The title track does that with muscular country rock, and on “Love in a Time of Drought,” he nods to author Gabriel García Márquez to tell a grand love story with a dusty backdrop. On “Dirt,” he embraces a little backroads fun with greasy electric-guitar riffs, and the upbeat “I Milk Cows” ends things on a high, capping the first verse with what may as well be the album’s thesis statement: “If a thing won’t go, you figure it out.”