Albums recorded for a C-note and cheap beer aren’t supposed to sound this good. But give it up for Lafayette singer-songwriter Drew Landry, who not only lands his best album yet, but one that could easily contend with anything on the national Americana scene. Landry assembled 23 of his closest pals, including mandolinist Al Berard, guitar fireball Michael Juan Nunez and Son Volt bassist Andrew DuPlantis (another Lafayette homie) to beef up his otherwise austere tunes, many of which will be featured on the upcoming, biographical Last Man Standing documentary. Several tunes reveal no-holds barred life chapters like the confessional adolescent years (“Juvenile Delinquent”) and a cathartic, yet gut-wrenching response to a failed relationship (“90 Proof”). There are even the trials and tribulations of touring, especially when the band quits just days prior to lift off (“Out West”).

While Nunez often rocks it silly and the arrangements are denser than previous efforts, Landry’s songs can usually stand on their own given his colorful songwriting and world-weary voice that sounds as if it’s about to draw its last breath. Sunflowers sprout up throughout provocative lyrics such as “California, it’s just one bag of weed / killing one another for someone else’s greed’ (“Out West”) and “Hell, that’s how the west was won / they call it justice with a gun’ (“Last Man Standing”). While that’s certainly chilling, the coup de gras zinger comes with the closing line of “Conspiracy Theory”: “Ain’t nobody gonna leave Iraq till we’re finished with Iran.” Still, one of America’s undiscovered treasures.