At the time of release, Jane Brace of "Living Tradition" described "Country Life" as the duo's "most ambitious, exciting and keenly awaited project to date". Iain Hazlewood of "Spiral Earth" noted "the diversity of musical style, mood and pace on the album is always held in control; as an album it is totally cohesive - nothing unbalances it," and noted the album incorporates elements of Celtic, Spanish, South American, rock and blues, but also that despite this, "they don't fall into the trap of creating 'world' music that isn't rooted to any real place or time. Their place is the West Country and South West of England, their time is anytime they damn well like." Tom Jewsbury of the BBC said the duo "steer ever closer to the mainstream market with this latest studio album. All the usual SOH ingredients are present: soulful vocals, accomplished instrumentation, excellent production, original compositions featuring politically-charged lyrics, the occasional nod to the tradition."