Hard Times marks a new direction for Keziah musically. It’s his first solo record without longtime band, Delux Motel, the first project recorded in Los Angeles and perhaps more significantly, Keziah’s exploration of wider avenues in his songwriting, with a conscious shift from a honky-tonk heavy vibe to one that is more balanced between the raucous and the spiritual.

Keziah penned all 11 songs on Hard Times that range from the spirituality of “Sweet Jesus” and “The Hands of God” to the aut...