Susan Gibson

As its title suggests, Susan Gibson’s third solo album is a one-step-forward, two-steps-back affair, comprised mostly of re-recorded oldies from her salad days in the Groobees. Diehard fans may argue that the originals hardly needed updating, and side-by-side comparisons — especially with the seven tunes that first appeared on the late Amarillo band’s ultra-confident 2001 swansong, Buy 1, Get 11 Free — certainly do underscore what a special group the Groobees were. But more than anything, New Dog, Old Tricks showcases Gibson as a songwriter with a lot more quality tricks up her sleeve than the one that put the Dixie Chicks, the Groobees and Gibson herself on the map. Gibson already revisited that song — “Wide Open Spaces” — on her last solo album, 2005’s Outerspace. Its absence here allows the spotlight to shine fully on lesser-known gems like “Cloud 9,” “My Best Feature” and “Miles City,” a heartbreaking portrait of a woman coming to grips with her son’s incarceration. The new songs ain’t bad, either, with poignant wisdom to be found even in the deceptively sugar-sweet “Baby Teeth.”