If Mike Johnson is really feeling alright that I'd hate to see what it takes to get him down. On his third solo album, the former Dinosaur Jr. bassist probes the dark, rotting underbelly of love, singing in his throaty baritone about relationships and feelings that offer only brief glimpses of hope. His songwriting is elegiatic and simple, sticking closely to time- worn variations of downbeat pop, folk and country structures, effectively wringing the maximum emotion possible from these familiar sounds. It's a solid collection of songs, and Johnson's sincere, mature and dignified outlook is a rare thing in the indie- rock world.

I'm sure some smug hipsters will dismiss I Feel Alright as being plain and cliched, but they're too used to music that trades only in either irony or ambiguity and never gets around to actually saying something. Johnson is an old- schooler here, his lyrics (and well- chosen covers) tell stories, stories that take place in some kind of murky Leonard Cohen afterworld, a place where lovers are unfaithful, feelings are confusing and loneliness is an inevitability. That 3am roadside melancholy feeling is what this album is all about.

Speaking of Cohen, Johnson's voice bears more than a passing resemblance to the old ladies' man's, and he respectfully covers the spoken- sung "Leaving Greensleeves." Dueting effectively on this and three other songs is Tiffany Anders of Hot White Noon, lending some welcome feminine counterpoint to Johnson's bottomless croon. Covers of songs by Lee Hazlewood, Kris Kristopherson and Arthur Lee blend easily with Johnson's originals, the whole given coherence and unity by the clear, countrified production. Swirling strings, lightly strummed guitars, gospel organs and fantastic pedal steel guitar work give these ballads a timeless quality, and on first listen it's hard to place the era precisely. Some things never go out of style.

-Mark Richard-San