Country-rock artist Travis Bolt has said he’s tried every kind of medicine to dull his symptoms of Tourette syndrome, except one. 

“I’ve never tried cocaine, I been thinking about it, / Cause the whiskey’s been tasting watered down,” Bolt sings on the track “Never Tried Cocaine,” featured on his first full-length album. 

If there’s one takeaway from 26-year-old Bolt’s sophomore album “Burning Bridges” — besides the contradiction — it’s that it was a good thing Bolt found what he called the only medicine to work: making music.

The 14-song expedition into the mind of the complex and conflicted Bolt features a few songs released in previous projects, including heavy hitters like the 13-million-time-streamed “Never Tried Cocaine,” and ends up being well worth a listen for anyone hoping to keep up with the direction of modern country. 

Though there will likely always be a place for the bro- and pop-country associated with country buzz words, fast-paced fun and surface-level themes, country is developing a new voice — a raspy one. And Bolt fits the bill.

This isn’t your grandfather’s George Jones record, as smooth vocals and prim instrumentation, like violins and fiddles, are out, regrettably. “Burning Bridges” excels when the raspier and more down-to-earth sound is apparent, while moments when Bolt’s vocals are overpowered or overpowering detract from the album’s quality.

Many of the songs deal with gut-wrenching breakups, clearly pulling from Holt’s emotions following his recent divorce. While often fast-paced, the album does slow down at points, to varying levels of success.

The first time Bolt shows a glimpse of his potential as an artist is on the second track, “Last Goodbye.” Though this is arguably the worst example of production overpowering what truly works on the album — him. Specifically, when the crashing of cymbals overtakes Bolt’s voice unnecessarily, lines like “You’re reckless, I’m helpin’” are conveyed with such grit that is easy to connect with.

That success comes to a head with “Blues At My Funeral,” the strongest song on the album. This is one of the few times where the crescendoing drum set and background music play extraordinarily well in tandem with Bolt’s vocals, making the track very consistent on an album with massive tonal shifts.

Where the album struggles is when the pace and tone shift drastically. 

Some tracks, like “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us” and “Home Is Where The Hard Is,” are mellowed out to the point where they don’t sound like the out-there kind of guy Bolt really is, more like a Morgan Wallen without the songwriting polish. 

Others, like “You Shoulda Known,” “Wasting My Time” and “Heartache Mixtape,” go too far the other way and give a quasi-Luke Combs light, in a bad way, limiting Bolt’s grit thanks to increased production.

An outlier to that trend is “Six Shooter.” The faster instrumentals work on this song because Bolt speeds up his lyrics alongside it. He embraces the rock aspect of rock-country more than on any other track, sounding like a cross between the pace of a Carrie Underwood arena anthem and his signature raspy voice.

The album finishes with a series of three stellar tracks: “I Owe You One,” “Sin and Tonic,” and “Coming Home.” Unlike the back-and-forth nature of the rest of the album, the concluding songs mesh well together and play to Bolt’s strengths through different gimmicks.

“I Owe You One,” among the strongest tracks on the album, shines by leaning into the parody artist Wheeler Walker Jr.-esque campiness that Bolt finds a way to make serious and engaging. The lyrics, like “You’re keeping tabs on me, well I’m keeping tabs on you” and “You can keep the change, and I owe you one,” are a bit absurd; the tone of Bolt’s voice working in tandem with the rises and falls of the beat makes them feel relatable.

While “Coming Home,” the closer, is probably the stronger track on paper, “Sin and Tonic” leaves a stronger impression because it feels more uniquely Bolt. For an album filled with spirit and creative ideas, the final track plays it safe, though the actual vocals in the second half of the song are probably the strongest and most evocative of the whole album.

“Burning Bridges” hits all the right notes and shows a creative taste and hometown-sounding vocals that could elevate Bolt into the forefront of modern country music if he chooses to stick with his semi-campy, yet endearing roots. Or, he can go the way many up-and-comers have gone recently: toward safety, like some of the too-clean tracks that dragged down this record.

“Burning Bridges” releases March 6.