Last year Charlie Robison split from his wife of nine years, Dixie Chicks member Emily Robison. So why is the title of Beautiful Day not entirely tongue-in-cheek? Because the follow-up to 2004’s Good Times isn’t an album about emotional trauma, it’s about the determination to keep moving forward and make the best of a lousy situation. Although Beautiful Day is split evenly between originals and covers (including a take on Bruce Springsteen’s “Racing in the Street”), it boasts consistency not just in its crisp musical attack but in its lyrical point of view—hard-won wisdom leavened with wry wit and a knowing wink.