Album: Jeb Loy Nichols, The Jeb Loy Nichols (Special Decca)

Jeb Loy Nichols's work has secured critical acclaim but not commercial success, a frustrating equation reflected in his frequent switches of label.

This time Decca have been attracted by the best track, the single "Countrymusicdisco45" – though it's not a positive sign that this was also the best track on 2009's Parish Bar album, too. An understated jazz combo backs Nichols on covers of songs by Merle Haggard, Townes Van Zandt, and country-soul legends Larry Jon Wilson and Donnie Fritts, and original material that reflects his laidback lifestyle and his understandably melancholy worldview, best expressed in "Disappointment".

Download: Countrymusicdisco45; Disappointment; The Quiet Life