Consumer Guide Album

Tommy Womack: I Thought I Was Fine [Schoolkids, 2021]
Pushing 60 with that boy of his in college or at least out on his own, never has this Nashville lifer made more of his knack for words and the tunes to put them across than on his eighth long-player. He's so funny and humane you can't help rooting for him, which in this case means hoping he hasn't settled for a concept album about the disconnect between holy matrimony and the rock and roll life. Don't miss the closing diptych, true stories about how his much older brother Waymond once played touch football with Elvis and Waymond's beloved wife Lou once told Elvis to get lost. Then there's "Call Me Gary," about a priest he knew long ago who'd buy five-year-olds ice cream cones and then put his head in their laps. Hope that "Sitting here in Saskatchewan/Baby, baby you're the only one" is literal and "Rock and roll is a losing cause/All my old groupies got menopause" is just an opener he couldn't resist. Which may not be so easy with "Tumors in my bladder an inch from my penis/I'd appreciate it if you keep that between us." A