No indie band tells better campfire tales than these flannel-clad Oregonians: They have been singing vivid folk-rock odes to horse-stealing and wolf-wrestling since their 2003 debut. Here, they get epic — tracking a prodigal son who battles hurricanes and dragons before becoming . . . a suit tailor. Trading low-fi ruggedness for gorgeous Americana pop, they conjure Dylan circa John Wesley Harding and proggy ELO but with bong-stoked epiphanies all their own. "You were hand in hand with the black-eyed angel of the evening star," intones singer Eric Earley, but the music is a sweet ramble-tamble.

“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."