Bobby Rush’s Rounder debut is the closest thing to a major-label release in his 50-year career, and it may be the most polished one he’s ever made. Producer Scott Billington has to walk a fine line, keeping Rush’s eccentricity intact while giving him an album that will appeal to a broader audience. For the most part they succeed (and tellingly, NPR’s already behind it), though longtime Rush aficionados might find it a bit too cleaned-up for their taste.

Granted, there’s a lot more to Rush than offbeat humor—“Another Murder in New Orleans,” his 2013 track with Dr. John, was dead serious—so it makes sense to show what else he can do. “Standing On Shaky Ground” is a surprisingly slick R&B groove, one of many times here where the local players—notably in this case, David Torkanowsky on electric piano—push him in new directions. The album’s longest and grittiest blues track, “Got Me Accused” (a rewrite of Eddie Boyd’s classic “Third Degree”) is notably placed early in the disc. Rush’s inexplicable love for disco stays out of the mix this time, though there are a handful of harder funk tracks. In each case he gives first-class vocal performances, sounding considerably younger than his 82 years.

Fans of Rush’s raunchier muse will get a taste on “I Think Your Dress is Too Short” and “Catfish Stew,” though the latter is one of his gentler double-entendres (and the first to be co-written by an artist, namely Johnette Downing, who’s better-known for children’s songs). The big-name guitar cameos are more of a mixed bag, with Dave Alvin coming off best. Keb’ Mo’s slide work is perfectly respectable on “Nighttime Gardener,” but there are dozens of local players who could’ve done it with more raunch. As for Joe Bonamassa’s shredding on “Me, Myself & I,” it lands like McDonald’s dressing on porcupine meat.