Jack of All Heartache

Originally recorded in 2002, Mike Stinson’s debut album, Jack of All Heartache, showed the Los Angeles (by way of Virginia) singer as one of modern country-rock’s best-kept secrets—that is, until Dwight Yoakam covered his California eulogy “Late Great Golden State” and released it as the lead song from his 2003 album Population Me. Here, the song sounds like an acoustic demo, replete with talk-back from the engineer’s booth and Stinson’s high-toned Virginia drawl crooning over nimbly picked arpeggios and tambourines. He opens with a title track that shuffles like an old Bakersfield country song piping from the musky speakers of the jukebox at Trout’s honky-tonk. Stinson personifies his home stage in “I Can’t Call Virginia,” an equally funny and catchy drinking tune with Spanish-flavored guitar and a narrative about holding back the urge to get on the phone and call Virginia after having tossed back a few too many longnecks. “When My Angel Gets High” sounds like Jimmie Dale Gilmore singing one of those Rolling Stones songs that were inspired by Keith Richards’ friendship with Gram Parsons.