This cover image released by Redwing Records shows “Just Like That…” by Bonnie Raitt. (Redwing Records via AP)

Across a career that has seen soaring highs and soul-crushing lows, veteran blues icon Bonnie Raitt is back with a brand new album. “Just Like That” is her first collection of new material since her 2016 standout album “Dig Deep.” What comes through loud and clear on her latest effort is that the passing of the years has, in no way, diminished her talent as a premier singer-songwriter. Tucked within the tracks of Just Like That is a brilliant artistic intimacy that wraps itself around you. The 72 year old Raitt stands on the high ground of being that rare veteran artist who has actually gotten better with the passing of time. Artistically, she has aged like fine wine and is still growing, as she continues to produce the kind of songs that can make your heart skip a beat.

On her new album, Raitt’s soulful voice still carries that all-alone, smoky, late-night feel that snuggles you like your favorite soft and warm blanket on a cold winter night. Once again, she uses her songs to chronicle the depth of those all too human emotions can slip beneath life’s door and drift silently into your room. Through the poignant intimacy of the lyrics and musical backing that form the foundation of this album, those emotions seem to nest like a silent presence on your shoulder. They are the deep feelings that are born in the cold ashes of lost love, broken dreams, unfulfilled yearnings, and the stark reality that the faded freshness of half-forgotten youth has run out like a water color in the rain.

In a voice that is, at times, leather tough, and then in an instant, as tender as a summer breeze, the tracks on Just Like That paint a face on those things that we all feel as we make our way through this world. After decades have passed by our collective front porch, I believe that, today, if you were to ask people who were not yet born when Bonnie Raitt (the daughter of the legendary actor, John Raitt) dropped out of Radcliffe College to earn her musical stripes playing the burgeoning Boston club scene of the 60’s, a broad smile would crawl across many of their faces as they told you that they love her material. Her timeless quality is further solidified in this new album that is both reflective and rocking.

“Blame It on Me” is a typical Raitt slow simmering bluesy song that echoes her looking back at the passing of her years in a subtle way that resonates. “Blame it on time – the fugitive, the vagabond – It’s the perfect crime.” There’s an ache in her voice as she goes on to embrace and lament the sobering reality…”Poured like sand through your hands – Blame it on time.” The musical underpinning of this one sees Raitt using her recognized slide guitar expertise that rivals that of the late Beatle George Harrison, in a way that accentuates the emotional clarity of her feelings.

There is a stark sense of aching reality that percolates in her voice on the album’s title track as it follows a man up to the front doorstep of a distraught grieving mother who blames herself for her son’s death. On this song, the irony is captured in a brilliant and stunning way when the mother discovers that the stranger at her door discloses to her that he has received his heart from transplant surgery where the woman’s son was the donor.

Raitt also amplifies her humanness and depth of feeling in a way that is a powerful remembrance of those who have passed, and also those who they left behind. “Living for the Ones” captures this with the sobering lyric, “If you ever start to bitch and moan – Just remember the ones who won’t ever feel the sun on their faces again.”

Veteran singer-songwriter, Tom Rush, a folk music legend was born and raised in New Hampshire. Rush has known Raitt for many years. When asked to share some of his thoughts on her he offered, “Bonnie and I go way back to the Cambridge days, though she arrived shortly after I’d graduated and moved on. I recall she opened a show for me in Philly, at the Fillmore, on one occasion. My impression was that she was trying to be wild and crazy at that point, but her heart wasn’t really in it. She is a great artist, and I sincerely applaud all the success she’s achieved, personally and artistically.” High praise indeed from local artist who still enjoys a worldwide fan base.

When all is said and done, Just Like That is a new and timely collection that holds up a mirror to us, for we see little bits and pieces of ourselves in each song. The album is a fresh and timely effort from a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer who uses her talent by continuing to employ a palpable sense of urgency and introspection that chronicles the human condition against the backdrop of times that are unique, challenging and unprecedented.

Paul Collins is a freelance writer from Southborough, Massachusetts.