These soft-hued country tunes are like dinner and dessert in one serving

On their debut LP, Meat and Candy, Nashville’s Old Dominion breeze through 11 subdued, folk-tinged country tunes with the wit and chops of seasoned pros. Like the title suggests, they play serious themes against more lighthearted fare. For every “Nowhere Fast”—which plaintively recounts an old love that couldn’t last—there’s a good-times antidote (“Beer Can in a Truck Bed”) or an ode to the perfect girl (“Snapback”). The themes are dynamic, but so is the playing: Check out the big-sky atmospheres on closer "We Got It Right."