“Hello New Orleans,” the second track on Keen’s latest dispatch from the high-lonesome end of the Lone Star state, is more about leaving Amarillo than about arriving in the Crescent City. But for those new to his work, it provides a perfect introduction. Near the end of the lovely, windswept ballad, his romantic evocation of a lost love whose “hair was made of summer sunlight” runs smack into harsh reality: “She took the car/that’s how I know this ain’t no crazy dream.” Elsewhere, Keen’s cinematic eye for detail creates characters straight out of Flannery O’Connor, like “Wild Wind”’s Too Tall Annie, who “kept her money in a Bible she never read.” He even strips down to pure spoken-word for the title track, a wickedly funny account of an alien sound check gone terribly awry. Still, his Lost Highway debut (and ninth CD) is equally memorable for its well-chosen covers, from his rollicking take on Joe Dolce’s “My Home Ain’t in the Hall of Fame” to his soulful tribute to Johnny Cash (“I Still Miss Someone”). And Keen’s gutbucket revamp of the traditional “Walkin’ Cane” is enough to make you shout Amen!