The Drive-By Truckers co-founder’s fourth solo album features contributions from Wednesday, Lydia Loveless, and Waxahatchee. Surreal and cinematic, it’s his most adventurous solo release—and his best.

“Adult cartoons,” which have come to take up not inconsiderable space in the fields of what we call television, began in a state of relative innocence. “The Flintstones,” a Stone Age version of “The ...