A presidential term ago Michael Juan Nunez proved there was life after the River Babys, Lafayette’s seminal rockers, by dropping a dandy of a solo acoustic blues debut. This one too was destined for another round of acoustic alchemy but soon morphed into its own entity, a true community affair where unrehearsed sideman had plenty of freewheeling opportunity to play au natural and rely on instinct. As a result, each track sounds refreshingly loose and distinctly different. Tender introspective testimonies, such as “We Got Love,” balance well with the jagged chords, wailing screams, thumping drums of “Pack My Bag Blues” and the delicate finger picking of “Don’t Mind Getttin’,” a Mississippi John Hurt inspired-original featuring D.L. Menard on acoustic guitar. The fireballin’ guitarist likes to rock it up all right, witness the edgy “Water and Steel” or the bawdy funky “Donkey Donkey” that was once slotted for the last River Babys’ record. But he also likes to swing it a bit, popping it into cruise control on “My Cadillac” as well as try his hand at jazzy R&B (“I am no Saint”) and inverted zydeco (“Mama’s Kitchen”) with Roddie Romero’s accordion playing buried in the backdrop. At the same time, Nunez has plenty to unload, like the TV-preying preachers of “Pocketful of Jesus,” with its suspenseful crash-and-roll interplay with keyboardist Eric Adcock, or the haunting “Rusted Blade” where an anxiety-ridden father avenges a daughter’s rape. In between notes and lyrics, Nunez splices snippets of scratchy records, burning papers, amps about to explode, buzzing strings and trad blues riffs for many a hip effect. Nunez has certainly outdone himself this time.