"Hard Luck Stories" establishes Reilly as a premier storyteller, dark humorist and unique character of rock. The lines between reality/fiction, narrator/character, have always been blurry with Reilly, but never more than now. Reilly's a raconteur; to be sure, his songs ache and explode with a gritty realism to which everyone can relate on some level. A groove-oriented, melodic album, corroded R & B, furious punk-blues, lounge-pop and classic rock, features a duet with Shooter Jennings "The War on the Terror And the Drugs". David Lowery of the band Cracker also joined Reilly in the studio.