Former Mavericks frontman Raul Malo spent most of the last eight years setting his bold, Orbisonic tenor upon classic country and pop songs with results that were always lovely but rarely revelatory.

On Lucky One, his first album of original material since 2001’s Today, Raul comes closer to establishing an identity outside of his old band even as he comes closer to the Mavericks sound than he has in ages.

It’s a suite of songs about the persistence of love lost, found and rediscovered that winds up with a killer ballad that more than lives up to its title: “So Beautiful.”