BLUE LINE is the fourth studio album from Californographic singer-songwriter Maurice Tani and 77 El Deora. The 13-track collection provides another spin with Tani through his original narratives of open roads and closed chapters and, as always, a unique take on a few classics.

“When I’m Drinkin’ (I Ain’t Thinkin’)” is classic hillbilly noir—a honky tonk shuffle that contemplates the nature of “filters” and alcohol as a lubricant for social interaction. “Fields of Green,” (co-written with Ken Owen and Paul Griffiths) is a romantic ode on the classical theme of a realization that there’s no place like home. Queueing up a cover, Maurice and the band then brings a moody and erotic blend to Chuck Berry’s classic “Nadine.”

Tani’s long-time muse and sparring partner-in-crime Jenn Courtney renders the intimate “Three Flights to L.A.” in breathy, cascading tones: “She’s Venus in repose tonight.” And then, reprised from Tani’s checkered music past (as Calamity & Main, from Honky Tonk Heaven, WIR 0103 2003), “Twisted”