The leader of Backyard Tire Fire returns with his second solo album, another low-key stunner. Edward David Anderson’s plaintive tenor and acoustic guitar lay the foundation for nine tunes that delve deeply into loss, grief, mortality and the ultimate meaning of life without slipping into self-pity or cynicism. The gentle country rock of “Sentimental in the Morning” celebrates a long-term relationship, even as it wonders how long this good thing will last. “Cried My Eyes Dry” is a slow, mournful expression of anguish, with producer Anthony Crawford (Neil Young, Willie Sugarcapps) adding pedal-steel work that intensifies the song’s desolate emotions. Anderson’s sparse acoustic and Crawford’s sighing steel fill the slow country groove of “One at a Timin’” with a bluesy tension. It’s a song of a musician’s life on the road that eschews the usual clichés to present a balanced view of the pleasures and travails of playing in a traveling band. The record’s most energetic track is also the darkest. “Jimmy & Bob & Jack” builds to a tragic, stomping conclusion. Jimmy and his pals decide to rob the liquor store he works at, but things go awry and they meet an untimely demise at the hands of the local police.