Lucinda Williams is the new Janis Joplin. For decades after the rock chanteuse’s death every gravel voice female rocker became The New Janis Joplin, whether they were musically linked or not. Lucinda Williams, herself, was likely compared to Joplin in her time. These days pretty much any female singer/songwriter who makes Americana gets compared to Janis Joplin. The latest in a long line of “the next Lucinda Williamses” is Elise Davis. As with most singers, the description is more or less accurate, but also more or less useless. Her voice has shades of Williams’ smokey blues, but also carries note of sweeter singers like Ingrid Michelson or Feist. Davis’ writing contains an interesting mix of sweet and earthy lyrics that set her apart from her peers. Her fifth album, Cheap Date, is a remarkable album from the woman who may well be the best Next Lucinda Williams to date.

The album opens with “Already In Love,” a song that peers into the time before the beginning of a relationship, the night after a first or second date, where a woman closes her eyes and waits for a relationship to start. “Its not easy to admit that I’ve become this way for you,” she acknowledges, “Hopin’ that no one else is in love with you, and that you’re not already in love with someone.” “Make the Kill” finds her cruising a a party trying to find her rebound guy, preferably one that will engender a little jealousy in her ex. The song is a lazy, almost bluesy folk number, and her sardonic drawl reveals that the comparisons to Lucinda Williams, particularly Sweet Old World era Lucinda Williams, are warranted. “I chose to take my time, she chose to take his name,” she laments on Diamond Days. It is a pretty song with a simply melody full of weepy steel guitar and driving percussion. “I Get Awful Lonesome” is a boozy swagger of a song which finds Davis nursing a hangover and regrets in the wee hours of morning. “Waking alone when this town is asleep, my hands are out in the space next to me,” she keens, “Aw hell, honey, I’d probably let you if you tried.” “I want to put my arms around you, but this is something I can’t do because I can’t move at all,” she pouts on the sly “Doll.” The song, replete with her best little girl vocals, high harmonies from Jordan Caress and lazy fiddle courtesy of Billy Conteras, is reminiscent of summers spent on a cool porch swing. “I’ve got a long list of people I miss because I’ve been too selfish,” Davis admits on “Loving Eyes.” Its a silky song, as close to blues as she gets on an album that is otherwise pure Americana country. “Let Those Bad Thoughts Die” is as close as she gets to new age affirmation songwriting on the album, but other than the title line, it avoids cliche. Instead, it focuses on a housewife coming close to bottoming out with a wistful and sympathetic eye. “KDWC” finds Davis making her peace with all the reasons a relationship can’t work. “Lay Back Down” sounds like something that could have come off of an early Norah Jones album. However, Davis elevates it with a wide ranging and winsome vocal performance. “He’s a beautiful man, don’t you understand, he can tell me about the world with the touch of his hands, and he does,” she sings on “Quiet,” coming as close as she ever does to crooning. Its a sweet little love song about the warms and affection of lazy mornings. “Why Not” is a sardonic break up and bad day song brimming with bitter humor. The album closes with an unnecessary, but still pleasant, live version of “Let Those Bad Thoughts Die.”

Although it was released at the end of the winter, Cheap Date is, in many ways, the perfect summer album. The melodies are breezy with an undercurrent of delta sweat, layered riffs on country, blues and folk that seem perfect for kicking back in a back yard hammock. Her voice perfectly encapsulates both a sweetness and a rasp that goes perfectly with a sheen of sweat and a glass of lemonade. The album manages to be, at the same time, both lazy and intense. Most of the songs are about relationships that have fallen apart and about the games that can exist between lovers when everything is going wrong. But there is also a sense of humor in the lyrics, and a sense of ease in the music. Cheap Date is the kind of album a listener can lose themselves in no matter what the season.