If El Viejo sounds like Corb Lund’s most intimate music yet, consider its origins. The JUNO- and CCMA-winning Canadian singer-songwriter and his band the Hurtin’ Albertans recorded the LP huddled together in Lund’s living room, using only acoustic instruments and without the help of an outside producer; many tracks were recorded in one take. Accordingly, El Viejo sounds unadorned and welcoming, as Lund returns to showcasing original material following 2022’s Songs My Friends Wrote. One writer on that former project, Ian Tyson, died that same year, with his passing serving as another source of inspiration for Lund’s stripped-back return to form. Highlights on the LP include closer “Old Familiar Drunken Feeling,” about the experience of taking too strong an edible, and its emotional title track, a touching tribute to Tyson.