Ode to an American Urn plays out like a Midwestern man warmed and scratched up by the big city and is meaningful like a heavy handshake with an old timer. “Don’t Fall Asleep at the Wheel” is fun yet tempered, a love song as much as a road song. The narrator says to someone making their way home to “turn up the radio, just sing along to whatever comes on, make up words.” “Jerusalem” bears a ’50s swagger matched with Muscle Shoals flavoring. “Slow Down” digs deep with simple tribal beats and sparse piano playing and DeLore sings as if in the distance, his voice reaching from the past. For the Izzy Stradlin-flavored “In’Shallah,” the steady backbeat stomps with driving piano funk. DeLore paints imagery with lyrics, such as “I cut my tooth in a city where there is no orchard on a hill / where the undertaker kicks a stone down the street / I guess even death has lost its thrill.” With Ode to an American Urn, DeLore crafts music and literature, topography rich in American scenery and weary hearts. By: Brian Tucker