Blood and Bones Jewel Music***

Fresh from a productive sojourn in Nashville, Louth singer-songwriter SJ McArdle flies the flag for rootsy rockers with second album, Blood And Bones. Buoyed by the guest vocals of Rodney Crowell on Come Around Again,and by the presence of Nashville session musicians who've earned their stripes with Emmylou Harris, McArdle's strengths lie in his lyrics: spare couplets conjuring entire vistas with the focus of David Lynch. At his most confident on The Wondering, with his near-baritone voice jousting with light-touch arrangements, McArdle's got a certain charisma that seeps through the newness of the material. His choice of covers is puzzling: Mary Gauthier's Mercy Nowis a finely judged take on the Louisiana songwriter's lonesome tale. His cover of Annie Lennox's Whyis a chocolate-box affair, though, undermining a sturdy back bone of original material. See sjmcardle.com

Download tracks: The Wondering