There are no real surprises on Ely's first solo album of new material in six years, but that's no putdown. His tried-and-true West Texas sound, with a tad more organ than usual, seems to benefit from the studio sabbatical (interrupted only by his role in the Flatlanders). The opening "Fightin' for My Life" certainly has a harder edge than many recent rockers, for instance; and while his protagonists continue as always to try to fight nature to a draw ("A Flood on Our Hands"), to run harder than ever just to stay a step ahead of their own shadows ("Streets of Sin"), or to simply get by ("All That You Need"), there's a humane snarl accompanying their struggles that the singer hasn't unleashed in some time. All roads may lead back to those dusty, windy plains, but Ely evokes the terrain and the lives it shapes with the intensity of his earliest, and best, work. --John Morthland
