Nashville-based Miller's stock has never been higher: Emmylou Harris' musical director for the past five years; superb 2001 collaboration with wife Julie narrowly edged out by Dylan's Love & Theft at the Grammys. Four albums in, this is his finest solo foray yet, remarkable for Miller's skilfully-woven fretwork and plaintive moonlit moan. A couple of throwaway rockers aside, its ambitious scope reins in cajun, dirty blues and old-time country.
Following labelmate Jesse Malin's success, twentysomething Jeff Klein's take on warped American mores pitches up in a darker backwater. Opener "Everything I Alright" is a suicidal arsonist's tale built around a grisly-lullaby keyboard loop and guest (and Klein landlady!) Patty Griffin's back-ups. "If I Get To California" rocks like early Uncle Tupelo, and "Another Breakdown" is a huskier Ryan Adams.
