Album: Bap Kennedy, The Sailor's Revenge (Proper)

The frontman of the defunct Energy Orchard teamed with Mark Knopfler, who both plays and produces; a swirl of Celtic and country tropes around a simple acoustic rock core, sung through a Dylan/Knopfler vocal filter.

It is derivative and woebegone and its musical twists are seldom hard to predict, but it is also finely crafted and devoid of the phoniness which can make such works unbearable. If he was the first songwriter you ever heard, he'd be a decent place to start.