Loudon Wainwright is arguably the John Updike of post-Dylan singer-songwriters, or at least the Richard Ford. Exposing the foibles of modern life beneath the finely-tuned microscope of his funny, scathing, confessional folk songs, this "Westchester County Delta blues" man has notched a long string of concise, devastating miniatures built from his own feckless pilgrimage. His puckish humor once made it easy to dismiss him as a classy clown (consider the early freak hit, "Dead Skunk"), but in middle age Wainwright's work has taken on unique power, culminating in this alternately funny and harrowing odyssey through his own past and present. Whether scanning the brave insanity of romance ("People in Love") or digging deeply into his own family history (which dominates the program), this is music with heart and bite, capable of making you smile or shiver at his naked meditations on parenthood, romance, and the long shadow of the past. --Sam Sutherland