For a time, the Kentucky-born singer-songwriter Gary Stewart looked as though he were on his way to becoming one of the wittiest and most rocking voices in contemporary country. Stewart's 1974 recording Out of Hand was a formidable deadpan triumph, but by the end of the Seventies he had fallen victim to self-consciousness in his singing and writing, as well as some of the vices he documented in his tough honky-tonk hits "She's Acting Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)" and "Out of Hand."

On Brand New, his first solo album in eight years, Stewart has reunited with his original producer, Roy Dea, and they've picked up where they left off, with a thick overlay of hard-taught wisdom. The hearty "Brand New Whiskey" kick-starts the new album with a fresh return to Stewart's favorite subjects (drinkin', honky-tonkin' and the ravages they cause), but what separates this from its antecedents is the new-found ease in his voice: he sounds like someone who has suffered through too many honky-tonk masquerades but who's emerged hardheaded and cleareyed.

With a crew of Nashville session vets led by master pianist David Briggs anticipating his every move, Stewart has returned with an album that comes within hollering distance of his early triumphs. (RS 539)

JIMMY GUTERMAN