Often described as Dylanesque, the raspy-voiced Butch Hancock is at heart a West Texas mystic with an equal affinity for romantic border balladry and Zen paradox. Though his songs have frequently been recorded by Lubbock, Texas, homeboys Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore and occasionally by the likes of Emmylou Harris and Jerry Jeff Walker, Hancock's own recordings have generally been haphazardly...

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...