

Jars of Clay’s moody songcraft heads for the country on their fifth album. Bluesy organ and gospel backing vocals fill the cracks around Dan Haseltine’s drawl on “Amazing Grace” (an original, not the hymn), while cosmic lap steel floats alongside the band’s tender harmonies on the sparse “Faith Enough.” The tunes evoke a simple pastoral relationship with the Almighty, but maybe none more so than their adaptation of “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet,” which emphasizes the song’s lullaby-like folk melody.