Singer/songwriter Kenny Tudrick struts country-soul–tinged rock ’n’ rollers as well as mournful ballads that resonate far beyond their melancholy chord changes and Neil Young–style folk beats. What’s more, this Tudrick kid (who's played with everyone from King Tuff to Kid Rock to Rodriguez to The Go, and who resembles a young Gram Parsons) could inform another half-dozen albums based on his own tough life experiences. Here, he achingly sings of good old-fashioned heartbreak (“Just a Knife in the Back”), exceeding his own limitations (“Crash and Burn”), and living alone in trail-dust country (“South Dakota Sad Eye”). There’s some Nashville shuffle (“Shelter”), a loner anthem (“Badlands”), and Lennonesque rock debauchery (“Blinded”). And damn if “Firefly” isn’t the most beautiful song you’ve never heard. This beautifully executed 11-song stunner feels like a dusty stroll through Topanga Canyon in 1971. (It was first released in 2004 and features Black Crowes organist Eddie Harsch and unsung pedal steel player Pete Ballard.) Old guys like Young and David Crosby could do well to phone up Tudrick for new songs. No joke.