New Connection

On his fifth album, the alt-country charmer is the perfect pub companion — an affable, big-hearted poet, stoked on the absurdity of life. While he’s built a reputation as a droll storyteller, equal parts Woody Guthrie and John Prine, his most affecting song here (”Waco Moon”) is a eulogy to Eddy Shaver, a sad victim of heroin and haplessness.