According to Sam Baker, say grace is the "same as the other records but different. Just like life." Baker's "mercy trilogy" – Mercy (2004), Pretty World (2007) and Cotton (2009) – were remarkable testaments to the power of love and forgiveness, so the bar is set very high. But he's right. The album is the same but different, a crafted and moving exploration of what he sees, feels, imagines and recalls. Baker is now 59, and his craggy Texas voice reflects a life of learning by often literally painful experience, his delivery, tone and pace adding meaning to his vivid stories. It's not all serious – the mood is balanced by the comic licentiousness of Button By Button, the Prine-like offbeat Isn't Love Great and the loquacious Ditch, along with a couple of evocative hymnal instrumentals. But the title track and Migrants speak to private despair and public shame with a startling intensity. Not to be missed when he tours here next month. sambakermusic.com
Download: Migrants, Isn't Love Great