When Justin Towns Earle's debut, The Good Life, came out a year ago, I hardly paid it any mind. Months later, when I finally got around to listening to it, I wasn't expecting much – just the son of a legend fumbling through an album he only got to make because of his father's name.

With Midnight At The Movies I wondered: Could Earle come close to the masterpiece that The Good Life was? Turns out that he may just have surpassed it, if that's possible.

On the new disc, Justin seems more settled in his resolve to forge his own path and more comfortable with his songwriting. On tracks like "Mama's Eyes," Justin shows no hesitation about exposing himself to the listener, warts and all. When you couple that the ragtime hop of the track "Walk Out," you start to uncover the true strength of this album. It's somber, introspective and tender at its core, while still managing to maintain a country swagger.

The variety of styles on the album help to offset its greatest weakness: it's length. Clocking in at a mere 33 minutes, it seems like the album is over almost as soon as it starts. But as Bobby Womack once said, "Leave them wanting more and you know they'll call you back."

With 12 tracks of all-killer-no-filler, you'll definitely find yourself calling Midnight At The Movies back quite a bit this year. I'll probably be calling it up come time for my year-end best-of list, but for now I'll just call it Essential Listening. (Bloodshot)