Ben Arnold - Calico (2004)

His talents are on display immediately on "Zig Zag," one of several songs he seems to have written as a means of self-encouragement ("A better day is up ahead," he reassures us and himself). Arnold and his backup musicians, led by multi-instrumentalist Scott Bricklin, tend to come up with arrangements that aspire to the combustible rock shuffle style of the Rolling Stones, with various ear-catching gimmicks thrown in, and they are consistently pleasing.