Nighthawk

A loose concept album about cowboys, Night Hawk finds Charlie Daniels revisiting familiar territory, both conceptually and musically. Daniels always liked to exist on the fringes of the mainstream, playing with the outlaw traditions of the past and present, a sensibility that also infused his music. As he got older, he started to turn the volume down -- his '70s records roared as loud as Lynyrd Skynyrd -- so Night Hawk has a bit of the same delicate, nimble aesthetic as 2014's Off the Grid: Doin' It Dylan, a sensibility that enlivened the tunes of the Bard and also gives a kick to these Western swing and cowboy tunes. A couple of these trace back to Charlie's own past -- "Billy the Kid" and "Running with the Crowd" were on 1976's High Lonesome -- and many others are so familiar, it's hard to pinpoint their origin. That's the appeal of Night Hawk: Daniels is absolutely playing with American myths but he's not quite re-creating them. He's bringing his own material into the storybook, he's treating everything with a light touch, he's living for the performance, not caring about reinvention but rather wanting the music to stay compelling. He succeeds: this record feels familiar but fresh, an album so alive it's hard to believe its leader is 80, but so accomplished it's clear that he belongs in the Country Music Hall of Fame. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine