Wishbones - Slaid Cleaves

With Wishbones, Slaid Cleaves turns up the volume. His third album features all the strengths that have drawn him a loyal following as one of America's most acclaimed singer-songwriters. The songs remain literate, emotionally vivid, and concisely colorful. Only this time, they make you move.

After three years of steady touring, Cleaves decided he wanted to make more of a band album, one that rocked harder than the acoustic-based songs he'd previously recorded. Terser and punchier than past work, yet still packed with the same emotional weight and clever wordplay, Wishbones proves Cleaves is a versatile artist capable of swagger as well as sensitive insight. The strong narratives and character-driven stories are filled with moments of reckoning. 'Some of these songs are about people facing something difficult, like we all do from time to time,' Cleaves says. 'There's a certain drama in those times of your life that are turning points.'

He wrote most of the songs while hiding out in a country cabin, away from his usual routine. 'I've written each album in a different way,' he says. 'It seems I need to shake things up a bit to get the ideas flowing. I don't know what I'll do for my next record, but I'm sure I'll have to do something unexpected, something new, to make it work.'

Listen to samples:

1. Wishbone
2. Road too Long
3. Drinkin' Days
4. Sinner's Prayer
5. Tiger Tom Dixon's Blues
6. Below
7. Quick as Dreams
8. Horses
9. Hearts Break
10. Borderline
11. New Year's Day