Chris Isaak is a man of many talents: singing, acting, hosting talk shows. He's also been able to manufacture cool.

He was an unironic Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison purist in the late '80s. He was into reverb-soaked guitars and Vitalis-soaked pompadours when synths and gigantically feathered hair were the accepted styles of the day. His music and mannerisms were so surreally authentic that David Lynch, master of disconcertingly surreal cinema, cast him in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and used his music in several other films.

Though Isaak's emulation of rockabilly has mellowed in the past decade, he still sounds a little like he's from another time. Mr. Lucky, his first album of original material since 2002 (excluding a Christmas album in 2004), is a collection of songs that finds him dusting off the Orbison croon as well as delving into more contemporary sounds.

The most modern touches on this album are Isaak's duets with Trisha Yearwood ("Breaking Apart") and Michelle Branch ("I Lose My Heart"). Guest spots are a distinctly current fad, and the songs have a new Nashville sheen to them.

On Mr. Lucky, the title belies the material. This is a man who makes his best music when he's tortured. Luckily, on very few songs does Isaak sound like he actually considers himself "Mr. Lucky." Album opener "Cheater's Town" jumps right into an old Isaak theme: running away from his love troubles. The wistful chorus of "I don't know when/I don't know if/I'm ever coming home" makes the idea sound almost desirable. Most of the other songs also deal with heartbreak, the best of which being "You Don't Cry Like I Do." "Mr. Lonely Man" is an up-tempo rockabilly romp that, nonetheless, addresses loneliness.

However, despite the abundance of characteristic Isaak melancholy, most of the songs are set in the major key. In other words, though the words are full of regret and longing, the music sounds relatively happy. The best songs of his career were as mournful as they were beautiful; tracks such as "Wicked Game" and "Graduation Day" were framed with morose minor chords. Mr. Lucky might've benefited from a little more of that edgy sound from Isaak's younger days.

Isaak's mastery of the lament, as well as his finely tuned Orbison impression, means his recent albums have started to sound a little tired. He does it well, but it no longer sounds as interesting. And so, Mr. Lucky finds him in good form, just a little less memorable.

Download: "Cheater's Town," "You Don't Cry Like I Do," "Mr. Lonely Man"

Grade: B