With Kings Highway, The Fellowship Band continues its streak as one of the longest-running, most consistent units in early 21st-century American music. The writing credits, as on every Fellowship Band release since the 1998 debut, are split between master drummer Brian Blade and his pianist and musical partner Jon Cowherd, a Kentucky native with a gift for melodies that are at once plainspoken and deeply emotive (“People’s Park,” “Catalysts”). All the essential elements are in place: lush contrapuntal reed parts and solo flights from Myron Walden and Melvin Butler (on alto/bass clarinet and tenor/soprano saxes, respectively), the mystery-filled guitar language of Kurt Rosenwinkel, the explosive synergy between Blade and bassist Christopher Thomas in the rhythm section. Blade’s entries have a cathartic and celestial quality, whether they’re relatively short (“Until We Meet Again,” “Look to the Hills”) or extended and epic (“Kings Highway,” “Migration”). The closing arrangement of the hymn “God Be With You” has an earthy slow-march vibe, drawing on Blade’s deep Louisiana roots.