These days, Truckstop Honeymoon parks its rig in Lawrence, Kansas, but Ninth Ward Katrina refugees Mike West and Katie Euliss still have plenty of New Orleans cargo inside its steel-vaulted storage. West uses more horns in his arrangements than he ever did in New Orleans, and many of the horn arrangements make for memorable moments like the Dixieland swagger of “Bad Attitude” and the glistening muted trumpets and gorgeous trombone solo of the serenely sweet “Home.” With its mariachis horn lines on “The Perfect Pair of Sunglasses,” the protagonist scouring the truckstop for some shades is really a quest for self-acceptance.

Whether it’s the rockabilly debutante or goofy kids chasing after the Malathion man to get a whiff of toxic chemicals—“It’s the smell of summer in Louisianne”—Truckstop Honeymoon retains a keen eye for wackiness. But even keener are the tunes acknowledging life as it is now for touring musicians with a brood in tow. It’s a life they cherish but still make light of as evidenced by the mambo-sassy “The Ordinary Things,” where Euliss bursts out of a domestic cocoon and seizes the spotlight with a flamboyant performance. Yet, it’s not all peaches and cream. A couple of tunes delve into a seedier, druggy underground even though there’s a funny side to “Strawberry” and a happy ending to “Never Look Back.” Truckstop Honeymoon keeps the music real and as open as a family scrapbook and for that, may this honeymoon never end.