February 6, 2026

Album Review – Doug Armento and the Iron Mules – “River of No Return”

Outlaw Country (#580) on the Country DDS.

Doug Armento has many country music stories to tell, both through his songs, and in his life. It all started in 1977 when he was 16 years old and saw Waylon Jennings performing on stage. “The sound was raw and real. Moon’ was pickin’ steel,” he recalls in the opening song of this album. After that, there was little to no hope for him. He was hooked on Outlaw country. Here just shy of 50 years later, he still can’t kick the habit.

Armento started taking photographs of his Outlaw country heroes as a way to commemorate and memorialize them (see below)— guys like Waylon of course, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr., and Johnny PayCheck. And this was at a time when photography wasn’t a feature on your phone, it was an artform.

Doug Armento also picked up singing and playing the songs of the old greats, and hasn’t stopped yet. Though tastes ebb and flow like they always do, the songs of the Outlaws remain timeless and perennially influential, as does their attitude of doing things their own way.

All of this is what Doug Armento puts into the 13 original songs of his new album River of No Return, backed by his band The Iron Mules, anchored by his son and guitar player Doug Armento Jr. It’s Outlaw. It’s raw and real. Armento is no spring chicken though, and won’t be the next hot up-and-comer. This album also has that local country hero feel to it, if that makes sense, and is not a threat to shoot up the charts. But there is something endearing and refreshing about it, while also delivering some really cool songs.

The thing about these older songwriters is they tend to have the best stories to tell because they’ve lived a lot of life. Whether it’s getting T-boned by a couple of texting teens, and living to tell the tale with his dog, or a brush with death via a plane crash, Armento has a knack for setting life to song. It might be the stone cold truth, slightly embellished, or outright fiction. But either way, you’re happy to be along for the ride.

You also get a lot of wisdom from these old guys. One of the best songs on the album is called “Keep Your Powder Dry.” It’s about knowing when it’s worth getting in a tussle, and when you should save your time and energy for bigger game—a lesson well worth learning in the online era. In fact, each song on the album seems to come with a little lesson or clue to unearth, however subtle.

From Idaho, Doug Armento also instills the geography of the West in some of his songs, and then includes tales of the wild women that can be found there. “Thank Heaven for a Hell of a Woman” it’s just a hell of a well-written song that some of the pros back in Nashville are probably kicking themselves for not penning.

And of course everything comes with that punchy, two-tone base line, pounding kick drum attitude that is the calling card of Outlaw country, and the antithesis of everything country pop. Add on top of that Armento’s well-seasoned voice that you can tell lived what it sings, and it’s not hard to buy into what he and the Iron Mules are laying down here.

Like so many true country fans, keeping the memory of all the old Outlaw country greats alive is serious business for Doug Armento. It’s not just about playing their songs and sharing their photos. It’s about paying their legacy forward in original songs the take inspiration from their music. That’s what Doug Armento and the Iron Mules do via River of No Return.

7.8/10

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