Scott Hirsch

★★★★ Windless Day

The Tulsa Sound reinvented, in Ojai, California. ECHO MAGIC. CD/DL/LP

No point in beating about the bush with this one: if you like JJ Cale, chances are you’ll enjoy Scott Hirsch, too. Big Passenger on the Californian’s third solo album is the perfect place to start, as a sputtering drum box heralds the most porch-friendly of choogles. Call Me The Breeze is the best analogue, though there’s also a neat detour into something akin to Benny Spellman’s Fortune Teller to mix things up. Hirsch has been on this path since dialling back his work as bassist/producer in Hiss Golden Messenger, and Windless Day is his most satisfying album yet, deferential to his heroes – Ry Cooder is clearly another favourite, notably on Drummer Of Shiloh – while having enough understated personality to make his songs more substantive than pastiche. Listen out too for the backing vocals on Much Too Late’s drowsy Tulsa funk: that’s Carolyn Dennis, as heard on Street

Legal, a former Mrs Bob Dylan.