Blind Willies deliver winner in ‘Every Day Is Judgment Day’

‘Every Day Is Judgment Day’
Blind Willies (self-released)
4.5 stars out of 5

After delivering a pretty-close-to perfect third album in 2011’s “Needle, Feather, and a Rope,” I figured there was no way San Francisco-based indie folk collective Blind Willies could top themselves. But damn if they don’t come tantalizingly close on long-awaited follow-up platter “Every Day Is Judgment Day,” a ridiculously good gathering of tunes the band has dedicated to the departed Pete Seeger, Maurice Sendak, Lou Reed and Polish social worker Irena Sendler.

The band says the 15 songs that comprise “Every Day Is Judgment Day” are “about freedom and whatever the opposite of freedom is, within ourselves and in our relationships with others.” Whatever the inspiration, there are so many keepers — “Cremo Tango,” “Dig a Hole,” “Potential Bag,” “Break Free,” “I Need a Woman,” “The Possible World,” “Carry All You Can” — you can’t help but fall for this band all over again. (Jeffrey Sisk)