If you’re in search of a master’s class on the singer-songwriter roots rock scene of the 70s, look no further than the catalog of the late JJ Cale.

From his string of singles in the late 50s/early 60s as Johnny Cale to any of the 15 studio albums he released between 1971 and 2009, namely 1974’s Okie, 1982’s Grasshopper and 1996’s vastly unheralded Guitar Man, the Tulsa-born tunesmith has left behind a most essential discography that deserves to be discovered more than ever. Curated by Cale’s wife, the musician Christine Lakeland Cale,  Stay Around is the first collection of solo Cale material since his passing in 2013. It was a normal occurrence for Cale to stockpile additional songs during a recording session for a new album to utilize on a later release, resulting in a veritable trove of fully realized studio tracks spanning his esteemed career, all mixed and produced to perfection by the man himself.

Unfortunately, however, there is little in way of any kind of information on the packaging of Stay Around behind when the majority of these 15 tracks. The only song we get any kind of context about is Christine’s “My Baby Blues,” the first song she and Cale cut as a four-piece combo in Bradley’s Barn studio in 1977, the year they met.  It would’ve been nice to have a little info behind the other 14 songs for geeks like me, to be honest. However, highlights like “Chasing You,” “Tell Daddy” and “Winter Snow” are all so enriched in that uncanny vibe which JJ imbued in all of his music it doesn’t even matter if you know what year they originated. If you are already a fan of Cale, his fantastic guitar playing and that “Tulsa Sound” which helped define the core of the last half-century of American rock, Stay Around is an essential and worthy addition to this sorely missed artist’s unshakable legacy