Tommy McLain is 82 years old. He had his first hit, “Sweet Dreams,” in 1966. He is a swamp pop legend who is best known in recent years for his collaboration with Warren Storm and C.C. Adcock in the supergroup Lil’ Band O’ Gold. Now he’s out with his first album in decades, produced by Adcock, and featuring admirers of his long career—Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Ivan Neville—and others.

This past spring, McLain made his return to the Jazz Fest stage joining Costello during his headlining set to perform their co-written duet “I Ran Down Every Dream.” While the songs are timeless, crafted by one of the unsung greats with assists from Costello (he cowrote two of the album’s tunes), one of the first things that jumps out when listening to this album is the production values and the musicianship.

A quick perusal of the credits demonstrates that Adcock chose to surround McLain with some of the best players in New Orleans and south Louisiana. On the “Greatest Show On Hurt,” (cowritten by Lowe and McLain) Warren Storm plays drums, Steve Riley is on accordion, David Torkanowsky is on piano, Dr. Sick is on musical saw and toy piano and Ivan Neville contributes backing vocals.

McLain has a plaintive voice, and though he doesn’t have the greatest range, he emotes with expressiveness and writes songs that reflect his long life and wistful point of view. “Mama Used To Do” looks back, while also looking forward. He sees his childhood self in a young boy crying and holding his mother’s hand. It’s powerful—the way all memories can be.

I Ran Down Every Dream also stands up to repeat listening. There are so many beautiful moments to be explored after the wise lyrics have seeped in, including subtle string arrangements and sweet backing vocals.