Gettin' by on Down

doesn't seem made for the 21st century, but that's only because he's constructed himself out of the sounds and styles of the 1970s. On his third album, 2018's , he leaned heavily on and ; on its 2020 sequel , he swaps the for . The ghost of the onetime leader hangs heavy and happily over , apparent in the album's thick, funky rhythms and 's mischievous rhymes. Where the often delved into dense, jazzy improvs, rambles along a relatively straight-and-narrow path, keeping his focus on vibe and song. Sometimes, the songs seem to threaten to take their sweet time, losing themselves within a hazy groove, but this isn't a jam record, it's a Southern rock LP where the feel and the tunes reign supreme. saves his lone ballad for the end, serving up "I Think I'll Just Die Here" as a bittersweet coda, spending the rest of the album playing boogies both sleek ("Rosarita") and fuzzy ("Gettin' By on Gettin' Down"), and settling into rhythms so drenched in electric pianos and cowbells, they feel as if they were excavated from the '70s ("Wicked Woman," "Make 'Em Miss Me"). While makes no apology for trading upon the past, doesn't feel like a revival so much as a continuation, as if he was the first Southern rocker to pick up the strands dangling from . Perhaps there's a limited audience who will notice these connections, but the good thing about is that it isn't made for them; it's for anybody who happens to be on the same semi-baked, sunny wavelength as . If you share his taste or sensibility, is a good time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine