Lyal Strickland, Preservation

Preservation, the latest release of Buffalo, Missouri songwriter Lyal Strickland, is packed with new tunes that feel like Ozarkian classics. Strickland’s voice is richly tamboured, gliding through the mix to tell clever stories. A few numbers (“Gone For A Weekend,” and a cover of Ozark Mountain Daredevils’ “It’ll Shine When It Shines”) pick up the pace, but the album settles mostly in down-tempo folk, guitar picking with soaring guitar slides and a variety of strings. “Always Make The Mistake” was written by Graydon James of The Young Novelists. Preservation, Strickland’s seventh album, was released in June. It’s available on digital outlets.