Richard Hawley's music is steeped in perspective. After making a name for himself with the Longpigs and as Pulp's touring guitarist in the late 1990s, Hawley stepped out of the Britpop spotlight to craft singer/songwriter records that pay homage to the songcraft of artists such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison.

Those are tall shoes to fill, and Coles Corner -- named after a common meeting place in his hometown of Sheffield, England -- comes mighty close. Hawley has the slow, sensitive gospel Elvis down ("Who's Going To Shoe Your Pretty Little Feat"), and he does a fine job playing a slow country song as Cash would have done ("Wading Through The Water"). His baritone croon is closest to Orbison's in "Wait For Me", while "Born Under A Bad Sign" is a playful ode to the love that can sprout in lazy times (entirely separate from the classic Booker T. & the MGs song). His appreciation for '50s pop production is apparent in the title track and "Hotel Room"; he somehow escapes sounding smarmy without fully realizing the kitsch factor.

Hawley knows where he fits in among other singer/songwriters, and he's certainly aware of his roots. Like Jeff Buckley, his greatest love is for his songs: each piece is treated as a singular gem, so perhaps it's unfair to accuse him of crafting a plodding record (only two or three of the eleven songs can be considered up-tempo), or of uniformly mixing his superior guitar playing so far below his clear voice that it gets lost in the arrangements. He doesn't take many chances, but then again, he's playing adult pop. The uncountable, indistinguishable friends and lovers who have met at Coles Corner over the decades provide the context for Hawley's message, but it's up to him to provide the meaning.