When you’re a rocker at heart, there’s only so much folk/alt-country music you can take before you want to let it all out.

Katie West, one-half of the zany duo Truckstop Honeymoon, capably leads her own band 40 Watt Dreams (which includes husband Mike as a sideman) through a variety of rock originals and grungy covers (“I Get Around”).

Though her sophomore effort is intended to be a band record with Katie’s name absent from the marquee, she still remains the focal point with her lyrics and vocals. It’s not as autobiographical as her 2012 debut (coincidentally titled 40 Watt Dreams) but is an accurate snapshot of where her life is now (“Kansas”).

“Classic Rock” is probably the most mainstream-sounding, but its core message is insightful: you can never truly return to a previous chapter of life. In between Danny McGaw’s inventive guitar solos, Katie mixes in intrigue, such as on “Natalie” where a recovering soul with semi-suicidal tendencies is a lot like her.

Still, as much as this is not a Truckstop Honeymoon record, elements of the mainstay band persist with Mike West’s familiar-sounding, tinkling banjo and electric renditions of two songs from the current record The Madness of Happiness.

But where 40 Watt Dreams seems poised for the future is in its sense of adventure, such as on the bluesy “Bacon Fat” where a guest pianist whips the high ivories as if it were a ’50s Muddy Waters session on Chess.

“Lotus Blossom” is the most progressive as McGaw’s searing solo almost spirals out of control.

This may be a rock record but underneath its muscular structure, a folk heart still beats vibrantly.