In contrast to the confessionalism and self-centeredness that have afflicted too many singer/songwriters since the 1970s, musical Texas has long been maverick territory. Whether it is the state's traditions of campfire storytelling and gunfighter balladry or the metaphysical speculation that the big sky inspires, Texas songcraft conjures up a world of its own, one where the twists go deeper and darker.

Butch Hancock's longstanding reputation as the state's songwriting visionary has been spread mainly through the recordings of fellow Texans Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, since the slapdash cassettes on Hancock's own Rainlight label have been so tough to find. This second compilation from Sugar Hill (following Own and Own, a more representative "greatest hits" selection) not only makes 11 more Hancock compositions available on CD for the first time, it suggests that the best of his songwriting may well be too ambitious in scope for others to cover.

The album's highlight is "Only Born," offering almost 10 minutes of multilayered revelation, combining Eastern mysticism and Western horse sense into a singular sort of cantina Zen. Though the album's performances have an offhand spontaneity to them and the arrangements seem to employ whatever was available at the time – rather than what might best suit the song – lines that initially sound like playful throwaways might eventually provide a key to the mystery that is your life.

Once primarily known as Lyle Lovett's college friend (the two collaborated on "The Front Porch Song." which each has recorded), Robert Earl Keen recently reached a wider audience through a couple of covers by Joe Ely. Keen comes out with guns blazing on his fourth album, as the lightweight whimsy that marked his earlier material turns lethal on "Whenever Kindness Fails" (in which Keen plays Miss Manners backed by Clint Eastwood's enforcement arsenal) and "Blow You Away" (a sing-along about the murder that lies in the hearts of all).

While such additional highlights as the ghostly "Here in Arkansas" and the bittersweet "Corpus Christi Bay" show that there are subtler sides to Keen's artistry, A Bigger Piece of Sky suffers from flat vocals and haphazard pacing. It's a shame because writing this strong deserves more compelling performances. Maybe if somebody put a gun to his head.

Better known in fine-art circles for his multimedia museum installations than for his music, Terry Allen remains a songwriter revered by other songwriters – a mentor to Ely and fellow Lubbockites and a running buddy of both the late Lowell George (who covered Allen's "New Delhi Freight Train") and David Byrne (who used Allen's music in True Stories). His new album comes in the guise of a grab bag – mixing songs written for various film, theater and dance pieces with tracks recorded during an odyssey to India – but The Silent Majority holds together as a musical portrait of Manifest Destiny gone haywire, of cultural imperialism as rednecks run rampant.

From the cover portrait of the artist with a blissed-out Nancy Reagan to the global ironies informing the likes of "I Love Germany" and "Big Ol' White Boys" (with traditional Indian musicianship), Allen takes no prisoners, pulls no punches. The result is deadly funny subversiveness on the order of Sam Shepard's True West or Leonard Cohen's recent meditation on "Democracy." Terry Allen has also reissued most of his earlier albums on CD through his Fate Records label, with Lubbock (On Everything), from 1979, particularly indispensable.

Own the Way Over Here and A Bigger Piece of Sky are available from Sugar Hill Records, P.O. Box 4040, Duke Station, Durham, NC 27706-4040. The Silent Majority: Terry Allen's Missed Hits is available from Fate Records. P.O. Box 273, Mill Valley, CA 94042. (RS 662)

DON MCLEESE