It seems strange that folks like once lived such wild lives but have been able to make solid comebacks later in life. Strange, because , on , sounds as good as he ever has. Better yet, the album has a nice, mellow sound, and has discarded, for the time being, his penchant for preachy, comic songs. It doesn't hurt that the album's been produced by , nor that he's joined by great harmony singers like and . 's choice of songs are solid too, combining deep but real lyrics ("And the rock and roll gypsies are ridin' tonight/ On the carnival strips they'll stay") with good melodies and hooks. The first three songs, are all keepers, and a beautiful start to a solid album. Other good songs include a -flavored that even pagans should dig. only runs 45 minutes, which means that resisted the temptation to fill the disc with less than satisfactory material. Roots fans and anyone who enjoys good songwriting will want to pick up a copy. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.