All of the streets that the people in Sam Outlaw songs travel down are about as lonely as they're ever going to get. The locks on the doors can be kept unlocked, with the fear of intrusion minimal. All of the gazes that are had are those of clouded eyes, of droopy hearts, yearning for that lost someone to swing back into the picture, to stroll in through the front door, after all this time. Even then, there might only be a slight chance of full reconciliation. It's obvious that all of the people in these songs are flawed, perhaps even to the point of total loss, but lots of times folks have a hard ass time seeing that. They play on. They move back in. They love and want for the wrong person, just because they're that familiar person. Outlaw's brilliant, bittersweet country songs are of the ilk that led to the coining of the phrase, "tears in my beer."