Like Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson has kept busy gazing at his mortality with his most recent music releases. Nelson’s 2017 release, “God’s Problem Child,” 2018’s “Last Man Standing,” and last year’s Grammy-winning, “Ride Me Back Home,” were a bit of a trilogy as the 87-year-old faces his own fate. He even recorded an album dedicated to the songs of Frank Sinatra, titled appropriately enough, “My Way.” Aging or not, Nelson still knows how to craft a song and deliver it with such understated emotion. On “The First Rose of Spring’ (Legacy Recordings), the octogenarian’s 70th studio album, Nelson cut a collection of covers with a couple of freshly penned Nelson originals thrown in for simple measure. “Blue Star,” one of two co-writes with his longtime producer and collaborator Buddy Cannon, is a twangy gem, a dreamy ballad with a little boogie-woogie piano and some nice pedal steel guitar play. “Love Just Laughed” finds Nelson ruminating on a life lacking in regret. “Love is still laughing / But you can’t go back / What’s done is done / And that’s a fact / But it was fun in a strange kind of way / We can look back and smile and say / Whatever happened brought us down to today.” And while friends that have passed include Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, whose voices dug deeper into the soil of life, Nelson’s still boasts a reassuring lilt. Even on the Charles Aznavour classic “Yesterday When I Was Young,” Nelson’s voice sounds more remarkable than regretful. You can file this album under country, and if you’re counting Nelson down for the count, the forever young, weed-smoking, Texas outlaw, you’re going to have to keep counting.

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Minnesota alt-rockers the Jayhawks wryly intermingle rich harmonies, Beatlesque guitar strains and a solid tinge of country and Americana music on their shimmering new album, XOXO (Sham/Thirty Tiger Records). Since forming in 1985, the band has remained pretty wistful over 11 albums. This new record, crisscrossing pop and indie genres, still has a nice twang to it as the members of the band – guitarist Gary Louris, drummer Tim O’Reagan, keyboardist Karen Grotberg , and bassist Marc Perlman – shared songwriting credits. The album’s opener, “The Forgotten Town,” is vintage Jayhawks, with Louis and O’Reagan trading lead vocal duties. There’s a familiar Neil Young-influenced guitar solo and pedal steel by Stephen McCarthy that kicks the wattage up just a smidge. Still, “XOXO” feels like a retro album, even as we trudge through our digital age. Louris’ timely “Living in a Bubble” begins with a Harry Nilsson-like chord structure as he bemoans living in a 24-hour ratings-centric news cycle. “Homecoming” tackles climate change and the current administration’s lack of empathy or understanding of anything environmental. His subtle sneer is equally on target on “Illuminate” as he abrades any kind of idol worship. And “Bitter Pill” tells the tale of L.A. stripper Maddie: “She worked down at the topless bar/ Saved enough money to buy a car/ A rusty red forgotten Chevrolet/ Too many nights with nothing to show/ Counting tips while her frustration grows.” It’s not a sure thing that “XOXO” is some kind of love letter from the group; at best, it could well be an air kiss, which would be quite the departure from an excellent band that rarely puts up airs.

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Sparks is one odd duck of a band. Since starting in the ’70s, La-La land sibling duo of vocalist Russell Mael and keyboardist Ron Mael, have always enjoyed being art-rock weirdos with hits like, “Here in Heaven,” and “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us.” After two dozen albums, Sparks isn’t reinventing the wheel, and that wheel, if you’re wondering, is entirely made of cheese. On “A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip” (BMG) the brothers pulverize an odd mix of pop peculiarities with their trademark emotionality and eccentricity. The album’s first track, “All That,” is catchy enough, chock full of horns, handclaps, acoustic guitar strums and echoey chants.

Like the bands They Might Be Giants, or even the pre-dating Devo, Sparks is amusing probably because they’re amusing themselves. The video and track for “Lawnmower,” looks and sounds like something Barney would be teaching your kids: “Your lawn will be a showstopper, showstopper/ your lawn will be a jaw-dropper, jaw-dropper.” Clearly the brothers Mael dig singing with their tongue in the cheek, even if they trip over their own words. “Sainthood Is Not In Your Future,” is all theatrics, culminating with slighting vocals of “Wherefore art thou so nasty/ I thought of you as so classy.” It’s safe to say if these two guys weren’t brothers, they would absolutely be made for each other.

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