Affairs of the heart have long been the domain of esteemed country singer and songwriter Rodney Crowell, and he hasn't abandoned that territory in his latest effort, in stores today. But the real fire ignites in the title track and several other songs in which Crowell tries to sort out a culture where "it don't make much sense that common sense don't make no sense no more," as his peer John Prine once put it.

"Sex and Gasoline" decries the destructive messages about the female body that pummel women and girls by the minute. With Dylanesque bite, he boils the problem down succinctly: "Pop religion, bullwhip thin / Say you ain't nothin but the shape you're in." Then in "The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design," he questions long-held assumptions about the ever-forward march of progress. Joe Henry's edgy production amplifies the muscle of Crowell's lyrics and the immediacy of his vocals.

Along with peers such as Emmylou Harris and John Hiatt, who also launched their careers in the '70s, Crowell seems to have found the fuel to just keep getting better.