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Slaid Cleaves Wishbones

There are hundreds of acoustic-guitar-strumming hopefuls, each desperately but rarely successfully searching for something to set them apart. Slaid Cleaves does just that a minute or so into the title track of his sixth album, “Wishbones,” when the mournful song suddenly swings into a faster tempo and generally perks up. Cleaves likes to sing about dirt roads and drinking, but just when you’re ready to write off the familiarity, there’s a funny song like “Horses and Divorces,” about a destitute hard liver.

Take away: Hard road

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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Drew Sottardi ([email protected])