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The four-piece country band Little Big Town broke through in 2005 with an oddly defensive statement of regional pride called "Boondocks." The chorus goes: "I feel no shame, I'm proud of where I came from/I was born and raised in the boondocks." And the members, all of whom sing, delivered it as if they were expecting a fight.

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That song helped the group's second album, "The Road to Here," sell more than a million copies, and now comes "A Place to Land," carrying with it some higher expectations and the same rich vocal harmonies. The group's slick version of roots rock makes perfect sense, in retrospect. Why shouldn't an ambitious group of singers and songwriters forge a link between '70s folk-rock (in a booklet photograph the member Jimi Westbrook wears a Crosby, Stills & Nash T-shirt) and '00s country-pop?

Sometimes the pseudo-folksy lyrics and not-quite-rowdy rock songs sound a bit thin. But if the members think their combined voices are sweet enough to propel a Stevie Nicks-ish ballad ("To Know Love") or a wistful ode to life on the road ("I'm With the Band," the current single), they're absolutely right. One song, "Vapor," pays tribute to the members' Christian faith and to their own lofty goals: "He was here only 33 years/But his life changed the world, and he gave up all he had/I want to leave a legacy like that." Is that all?

— Kelefa Sanneh, New York Times