*** 1/2 STEVE EARLE, “Transcendental Blues,” E-Squared/Artemis

After shaking some drug-related demons and returning to the music scene in the mid-’90s, Earle has released five compelling collections (counting this one) about the restlessness of the human spirit--music that explores issues of identity and self-worth, commitment and self-destruction. Only Neil Young, perhaps, has given us as many superior works so steadily over the last decade.

And Earle is as restless an artist as Young. Though he started out in country, the Nashville singer-songwriter has turned through the years from rock and folk to blues and bluegrass.

In “Transcendental Blues,” he draws on a lot of those styles, weaving them into a work that finds him making welcome progress in distinguishing between his healthy and destructive impulses.

Earle takes time getting warmed up in the 15-song package. The first five songs either lack the individuality of his best music or seem a bit unrealized. From that point on, however, the emotions are unflinching and convincing--from the questioning of his own restlessness in the harmonica-driven “Steve’s Last Ramble” and the ache in the stark “Lonelier Than This” to the loving embrace of “I Don’t Want to Lose You Yet.”

But the gem is the closing “Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song),” which serves as a companion to “Ellis Unit One,” Earle’s moving song on the 1995 “Dead Man Walking” companion album.

Where “Ellis” spoke about capital punishment from a prison guard’s perspective, “Yonder” looks at it through the eyes of a man on death row. It’s a particularly challenging subject, but Earle addresses it with the character and craft that underlie his absorbing body of work.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.