Tanya Tucker, “Sweet Home Sound.”

Tanya Tucker, one of outlaw country’s most cherished voices, is back withSweet Western Sound. Tucker built a career on earnest songwriting and authenticity, which hasn’t changed on her newest record. Produced by Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings, this album follows in the footsteps of 2019’s While I’m Livin’. She fill every minute of these 10 songs with rich storytelling, heartfelt melodies and wizened vocals.

“Breakfast in Birmingham” is a perfect example of her songwriting ability, expressed as a feel-good road trip song. Lyrics about cheap gas, motel stops and diners weave around a melody comprised of steel guitar, banjo and Carlile’s smooth guest vocals. While freeways have made the great American road trips a thing of the past, the song romanticizes what it might be like to hit the road today.

Upbeat “The List” is quintessential Tanya Tucker, about living on her own terms.

“That list of things you don’t like about me is gonna be shorter than mine,” she sings on the chorus, alongside lyrics about what she’s lived through to arrive at her current carefree place.

The experience in Tucker’s voice is a beautiful addition to what was already strong to begin with. Melancholic piano ballad “Waltz Across a Moment” also shows off her storytelling prowess in a story about the importance of grateful while you grow older. Piano forward “Ready As I’ll Never Be,” about the friends she’s seen pass on, also looks at the latter part of life. The composition is fairly simple, with piano and light percussion taking on a majority of the work, allowing Tucker’s voice to sit center stage. There is a light raspiness, some cracks of her voice adding to the slightly weathered sound, but the sound is distinct to the Outlaw herself.

Sweet Western Sound focuses a lot on personal experience and inspirations, which gives it a cohesive thematic feel. It gives songs like “Kindness” extra heft and power “Letter To Linda,” meanwhile, is a touching tribute to the great Linda Ronstadt; specifically the type of example she’d left on Tucker of women in the music business. Tucker sings that she wishes the two could have been friends in life (the two met just once) and still hopes that they will be friends one day.

“Rest easy Linda, you already stole the show,” Tucker croons over gentle piano and electric guitar.

There’s also a tribute of sorts to the late Billy Joe Shaver, whom Tucker was friends with. Album opener “Tanya,” was made from a rhyme written by Shaver and delivered to Tucker via a voicemail left on her phone. Tucker uses the voicemail to bookend the album, both with the opening track and as an outro on “When The Rodeo Is Over (Where Does The Cowboy Go).” “Tanya” is about Tucker’s essence, while the album closer speaks to who we become when we feel like we’ve lost the thing that makes us who we are. It’s about her uncertainty over what life after music holds.

Following up While I’m Livin’ was going to be a tall order. But no one was more fit for the task than the Lady Outlaw herself. Full of bravery and vulnerability, Sweet Western Sound shows Tucker’s ability to adapt while allowing the many lives she’s lived to influence her music. It’s another addition to her colorful story.

Follow writer Piper Westrom at Twitter.com/plwestrom.