"My Only True Friend," from , 's final album, is a cipher, much like the man himself -- private, reserved, and complex. Though twin, ringing, blues-drenched guitars introduce it, the song just as quickly morphs into a ballad: "You and I both know, this river will surely flow to an end/Keep me in your heart...I hope you're haunted by the music of my soul...But you and I both know, the road is my only true friend...." The blues guitars cascade in again, adding resonance. This is the only track here that co-wrote, but it's fine enough to join the shortlist of his classics -- "Midnight Rider," "Melissa," "Ain't Wastin' Time No More," etc. When and producer commenced work on , the clock was already ticking. The singer had undergone liver transplant surgery, but the cancer had returned. Tunes and charts were painstakingly chosen. 's road band and some friends were invited to FAME Studios at Muscle Shoals, the same place that had recorded his initial sessions, and where, according to had their first rehearsals. Following "My Only True Friend" is a stunning reading of 's "Once I Was," which accentuates its surrender, followed by the bitter acceptance in 's "Going Going Gone": "I'm closing the book on pages and text/And I don't really care what happens next...." But it's not so cut and dried. That acceptance is balanced by a Celtic-tinged, even hopeful read of 's hymn-like "Black Muddy River." But didn't let his blues and R&B roots to be scattered by the winds. He delivers 's "I Love the Life I Live" with passion, fire, and humor as he celebrates hedonism. In 's "Willin'," looks back without surrender; he expresses the desire to keep rolling along even when discovering the highway's dead end in his headlights. He offers ' hoodoo blues "Blind Bats and Swamp Rats" from 1970's -issued with vengeance, as if to make up for lost time. (He was the only member who didn't play on the original). Muscle Shoals makes its voice heard in and 's 1967 deep soul single "Out of Left Field." imbues it with grit, heart, tenderness, and power enhanced by backing vocals from and a powerful three-piece horn section. 's "Song for Adam," written for a lost comrade, features the songwriter on backing vocals. In delivering this song, is obviously singing about , whose premature death shaped his own life. 's whining pedal steel becomes another singing voice, especially at the end when gets too choked up to deliver the final two lines -- and didn't even try to make him. is almost perfect; there isn't a better final album could have made. It belongs on the shelf between 1973's and the mysteriously withdrawn but amazing . ~ Thom Jurek