Can crooners still croon past 80? Tommy McLain is determined to find out. Thanks to guitarist-raconteur-fellow Louisianan C.C. Adcock, swamp pop singer McLain—who had a lone hit in 1966 with Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams," which charted higher than Patsy Cline's more famous earlier version—has a grandly produced new project to help with the answer. Producer Adcock (with whom McLain played together in Lil’ Band O’ Gold) has wisely corralled a number of high-profile guests (and McLain fans) like Elvis Costello, Ivan Nevile, Nick Lowe, Van Dyke Parks, and Augie Meyers to add buzz to his first solo album since 1979. All this high-quality support and creative arranging—the strings and castanets on "My Hidden Heart," for example—camouflage the fact that McLain's voice has, not surprisingly, lost more than a step. While he's still willing, the ability to spin out the smooth vocal ribbon of self-pity and heartbreak that was once his speciality is no longer there. Despite spacious production, ballads like a cover of Bobby Charles' "I Hope," or his original "If You Don't Love Me"—both of which McLain works hard vocally to put over—are thin and strained. He's more comfortable among the mid tempo fiddles, accordion and rubboard of "Livin' on The Losin' End." The same dynamic applies to the simple, effective "The Greatest Show on Hurt," his co-write with Lowe which features Neville on backing vocals. McLain also sings well in the elaborately arranged version of his original, "California," which features a pair of trumpets and Parks on accordion. This is an overdue, well-deserved labor of love tribute filled with a lot of heart from the object of all this affection. Aided by just the right tempo and Meyers' Vox Continental organ, "Somebody" is the album's most successful upbeat number. Near the end, "Before I Grow Too Old," a tune McLain has been singing since the '70s, is a fitting closer. © Robert Baird/Qobuz