Gavin Adcock makes a promise with The Day I Hang It Up: he’ll be the one deciding when he’s finished. The Georgia singer-songwriter brings that stubborn determination to an album filled with country rock, bruised relationships, and the complications of getting what you wanted.

Adcock’s path to music ran through his family’s cattle farm in Watkinsville, Georgia, and the football field at Georgia Southern University. He began writing songs in high school, then used the recovery time following a knee injury in 2021 to record and release his first original single. The audience that followed helped turn Actin’ Up Again and Own Worst Enemy into streaming successes, giving his latest collection a sizable crowd to sing along.

Produced by Jay Rodgers, The Day I Hang It Up leaves plenty of room for loud guitars and Adcock’s unvarnished delivery. “Lowball Me” channels a breakup into a gleefully spiteful sell-off, while “Workin’ Man” brings a shot of blue-collar swagger. Hudson Westbrook joins him on “Cheap Thrills,” and Texas country rockers Treaty Oak Revival help power “Us Again,” a song caught in the familiar cycle of breaking up and finding your way back.

Adcock wanted the recordings to reflect what he and his musicians could deliver onstage. Speaking about the sessions, he emphasized a garage-band feel, avoiding audible vocal tuning and arrangements that would require backing tracks to reproduce live. That approach suits songs built to travel directly from the studio to a roomful of fans.

There’s room for self-examination amid the raised glasses. “Shoes” and “Rockstar Life” consider the personal cost of a growing career, while “Holes In The Boat” addresses mental health and the difficulty of admitting you’re struggling. ERNEST also appears on “Save My Breath,” rounding out a guest list that connects Adcock with several distinct voices in contemporary country.

Together, these songs give the album’s defiance something to stand on. Adcock can celebrate the life he’s building while acknowledging what it takes out of him. Hanging it up can wait.