Samantha Crain's roots are in rural Shawnee, Okla., where the young musician dreamed of the worlds that Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie and home-state heroes The Flaming Lips sang about. Now 26 and on her third album, Crain continues to grow her songwriting with a literary flair that turns a simple acoustic number like "Taught to Lie" into a transcendent tune about personal identity. A small band emerges for the stalking, minor-key lurch of "For the Miner" (think On the Beach–era Neil Young), where Crain captures a vibe that goes beyond the lyrics' simple but effective rhetorical questions. Most revealing is "Churchill," a confessional tune that leaves the lines "My whole life I thought I was an opportunist, but I'm not" in full view; it's an open wound that only time can heal. The therapeutic value of this exercise will attract those also in an existential crisis, provided they hear of this emerging artist. Crain continues to tour consistently; it's time to listen.