***
Who knew Toby’s music was crying out for a woman’s touch? After selling millions upon millions of albums based on butt-kicking bluster, Toby drafted 1990s hitmaker Lari White (“Now I Know,” “That’s My Baby”) to produce White Trash With Money. The result dials down Toby’s machismo while emphasizing his self-deprecating humor and vulnerability.

This kinder, gentler Toby proves very appealing indeed. White Trash kicks off with the working-class singalong (and first single) “Get Drunk and Be Somebody,” but afterward settles into a blue groove. Well-deployed strings ratchet up the emotion as Toby (and frequent co-writer Scotty Emerick) address the mistakes men make and the urges that often lead them to make them.

Like 2003’s Shock’N Y’All, White Trash closes with three “bus songs”—the jokey tunes Toby and Scotty write to amuse themselves on the tour bus. This time, the “bus songs” are fully produced studio creations, and the jokes deflate under the weight—except “Runnin’ Block,” a raunchy joke so gleefully offensive that it’s irresistible.