Rodney Crowell must have decided to strike while the iron was hot by releasing Tarpaper Sky barely a year after his award-winning album with Emmylou Harris came out. That decision was a great one as the new album is a consummate collection of Americana songs, richly detailed, effortless and timeless. ‘God I’m Missing You’ is the album’s starkest moment, emotionally resonant like the best Guy Clark songs while ‘The Flyboy & The Kid’ quickens the pace on the back of poetic storytelling and Crowell’s stage-worn voice. This is an album without pretense; simply well-crafted and expertly recorded country songs.

Chris Familton

http://rd.io/x/QUN9AiIeD3A/