First, Austin guitar slinger emeritus Van Wilks n-a-i-l-s Billy Gibbons’ ranchero drawl on 21st Century Blues opener “Strange Girl,” fast broadside to ZZ Top’s “Rough Boy.” Then the Houston trio’s bearded icon himself voices “Drive By Lover,” a post-Eliminator-revving bauble built by the pair of stringbenders who once shared management. Blues polished to digital perfection don’t cease there. “Just Walk Away” sets a dusky ballad of steely strings and coyote lonesome early in a wily album sequence wherein rejoinder “There’s a Sin in There Somewhere” follows with locomotive slide chills. A fire pit smolder carpes diem throughout, notably on the aquatic ebb and glow of the title track and plaintive “If I Were a Richman.” Sammy Hagar’s “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy” gains a cousin with “Can’t Stop Thinkin’.” Seventies or Eighties, 21st Century Blues would’ve stuck in your ride’s tape player.

***.5

This article appears in December 25 • 2015.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.