'All of It' review: Cole Swindell's songs about ordinary folks are extraordinary

Cole Swindell isn’t looking to be some sort of NashVegas star crashing the pop charts. The Georgia native is a singer-songwriter in the Garth Brooks mold, celebrating regular life with thrilling results.

His new album, “All of It” (Warner Music Nashville), is packed with well-crafted future singalongs like “Reason to Drink.” “Some of y'all in here been workin' too hard, some of y'all just here 'cause ya love this bar,” he declares. “Yeah we all got a reason to drink.”

Swindell sweetly pays tribute to “The Ones Who Got Me Here” with a poignant ballad. He lists things that unify on the bluesy “Both Sides of the Mississippi” — “Beer is beer, whiskey’s whiskey; out in the country, up in the city, Strait is the king and the girls are pretty.”

But Swindell’s lament “Dad’s Old Number,” about calling his late dad’s old phone number hoping for him to pick up, is a classic in the making. “Sometimes I forget that these 10 digits ain’t my lifeline any more,” he sings with a lonesome twang that will have you reaching for the tissues or — if you’re lucky — the phone.