King Of America is by far the most successful of Costello’s pointed genre excursions, a detour into roots music and country that plays to his great strengths as a lyricist and storyteller. Abetted by the able production of T-Bone Burnett and a fine band of veteran country players dubbed the Confederates, Costello renders a top-flight set of songs full of aphorism and fine melody. Opener “Brilliant Mistake” sets the table for the torrent of excellence to follow, mocking both the media (“She said that she was working for the ABC news/ It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use”) and his own image (“I was a fine idea at the time/ Now I’m a brilliant mistake”). From there, highlights abound – from the rollicking death-by-hangover of “The Big Light” to the wondrous torch ballad “Indoor Fireworks” to the harrowing finale “Sleep Of The Just,” a tale of rape and its aftermath. Best of all is “Suit Of Lights,” a marvelously comic and confessional dissertation of Costello’s life as an ambivalent artist, featuring the Bartlett’s-worthy observation: “It’s the force of habit/ if it moves then you fuck it/ if it doesn’t move you stab it.” King Of America is the sound of a mature Costello at ease with his gifts and firing on all cylinders.