Amazon.com A lyrical tenor with a courtly Southern drawl. Songs steeped in deft gospel, folk, country, and R&B influences in elegantly spare settings. An underlying intelligence, mixing romantic reverie with vignettes that convey a palpable sense of place, and sketch wonderful characters with moments of low-keyed, shaggy dog humor. If that sounds like Lyle Lovett, you're more than 20 years late. Louisiana-born, Memphis-bred Jesse Winchester was a conscientious objector viewing his rootsy origins and contemporary American life from his Montreal exile when writing this, his third solo album, and it glows with an easy charm undiminished by the intervening years. Songs include meditations on spirit ("How Far to the Horizon,") and homeland ("Mississippi You're on My Mind"), patriotism, and faith. Blame Winchester's lack of careerism and Canadian operating theater for his relative obscurity--like its two predecessors, this is a deeply satisfying exploration of faith and roots that sounds prescient against the current backdrop of questing American roots rock. --Sam Sutherland