Kieran Kane”Dead Rekoning” Dead Reckoning Kane’s...

Kieran Kane

“Dead Rekoning”

Dead Reckoning Kane’s second solo effort since the demise of the O’Kanes, the acclaimed country duo he and Jamie O’Hara created, might have been subtitled “Heart(ache) of Darkness.” His journey through a treacherous emotional landscape is in places as harrowing as Joseph Conrad’s. The big difference is that Conrad’s Mr. Kurtz didn’t emerge from his horrific experience singing a Buck Owens tune.

Kane opens the album with “This Dirty Little Town,” a we-gotta-get-out-of-this-place plea that’s a couple of notches above average thanks to the tangible grittiness Kane conjures. From there it’s downward to “He Never Knew What Hit Him,” a deliciously spooky tale about a woman who apparently commits the perfect crime. Kane is a sufficiently assured songwriter to leave the listener wondering at just who did what and why, and Mike Henderson’s razor-edged slide guitar is the perfect vehicle for ratcheting the tension up even higher.

Midway through, Kane covers Hank Williams’ “Ramblin’ Man” with a pitch-black rendition that transforms the singer into a man on an an existential quest. The tone then begins to lighten, like the first hint of dawn, with “Eight More Miles,” and winds up on the doorstep of unbridled joy with Owens’ “Love’s Gonna Live Here.” It arrives as a hard-earned victory over the cynicism that might result from so much time spent in the dark recesses of the soul.