In his bio, Joe Mannix (no relation to the classic TV private eye) recalls how he would spend hours as a youth in the 1970s listening to discarded jukebox singles from his parents' nightclub. That helps explain why the songs on "White Flag" channel '70s singles chart fixtures Billy Joel, James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, and even Jimmy Buffett.

With a melodicism and clarity of vocals (if not always lyrics) missing in much of rock today, "White Flag" is a rare indie-label pearl amid a bed of oysters.

As with Mr. Mannix's 2001 double-CD "Come to California," there is a theme running through "White Flag." In this case, he says, "It's about a struggling songwriter making peace with the big, bad world of popular music." (Hmm, wonder who the struggling songwriter could be.) The best songs here are the pessimistic "Higher Intervention" and the defiant "White Flag" ("No apologies and no regrets/It's the long run, so place your bets./Ego, toil and trouble/and all these worn-away frets").

Most of the rest of the 15 tracks here are elegies to lost love, the best of which are "Bellerose Hill," embellished by Keith Lindsay's keyboards, and "Port Aransas," which evokes Mr. Buffett (think "Come Monday," rather than "Margaritaville.") The only misfire on "White Flag" is the preachy, pious "Everyman," which is wildly out of place thematically and is salvaged only by Mr. Mannix's delightfully Dylanesque harmonica riffs.

Joe Mannix performs at a CD-release party for "White Flag" tonight at Velvet Lounge, 915 U St. NW.

— Peter Parisi