After the Fire (Late August, 2019)

Jewelers are trained to recognize flaws in personal ornaments, but even one of these experts would find no faults in this Cody Jinks' recorded work. It's a nearly perfect collection comprised of songs you'll want to listen to again and again.

"Yesterday Again," for example, speaks about wanting to go back in time to re-experience better romantic days. It's the sort of lyric and melody (speaking of traveling backwards in a time machine), one can easily imagine Kris Kristofferson writing for Ray Price, which would then be recorded, complete with full orchestration. "Think Like You Think" explores one man's weighty cognitive dissonance. He has the faith of a saint, yet still drinks like a sinner. "William And Wanda" is built upon a simple acoustic guitar arrangement, and - like Brad Paisley's "Waitin' On A Woman" - tells the story of one partner arriving in heaven before the other.

There's some serious stuff here, it's true, which is why the honky-tonking barroom dance song "One Good Decision" helps to lighten the mood load considerably. Also, a hot-stepping western swing instrumental, "Tonedeaf Boogie," closes out the collection on a high note. Lastly, "Someone To You" is a beautiful, heartwarming, straight-up love song.

In a perfect world, this song set would be a greatest hits collection. Every track is just that good. Don't hold your breath for that perfect world, though. Instead, do your traditional-country-music-loving-heart some good, and enjoy Cody Jinks' music. He's the real deal, and really, really good.