On her debut album Blue Gold, Myshkin was rightfully recognized as a bona fide talent beyond just being a collaborator with husband Mike West, New Orleans’ gonzo hillbilly hellion. This time, the icing’s on the cake as Myshkin magnificently unleashes her powerful, expressive voice as never before. Her deeply brewed songs emanate from a strong blend of personal experiences, yarns related by others or stories garnered from good reading such as the slave market depiction of “Market Town” or the historical Europe-meets-Africa encounter of “Bojador.” The poppish-flavored “Milk and Honey” tells about those emigrants who never realized their dreams; the lullaby-ish “Sleep” was inspired by the war in Bosnia.

Combine the erudite songwriting with the unpredictable arrangements and the result’s a multi-dimensional package that’s not another generica feeding for the populists. Each song weaves its way into inventive arrangements like the Eastern European melodies of “Her Silver Bowl,” the swing jazz of “Apricot Tree” or the acoustic skiffle funk of “Ruby Ann” that works as a quirky character sketch. “Penn Station” swirls in a minor key vertigo while “Yvonne’s Bar” (an actual New Orleans afternoon watering hole) combines West’s tinkling banjo and horns from the rest of the West band who do a spectacular job throughout. The title song, “Why Do All The Country Girls Leave?,” is a fairly radio-ready rocker about strong women abandoning their villages for golden opportunities. So what do country girls sing about once they leave their pastoral settings? Not the stuff Myshkin sings about. Not even close.