The recipient of numerous accolades—including a stint on America’s Got Talent and top honors at the Independent Music Awards—Jonah Smith has seen his career blossom from the very beginning. His debut album Industry Rule brought opening-act opportunities on tours both here and abroad, while succeeding efforts garnered extensive airplay and invitations to play at Bonnaroo and Langerado. Consequently, he releases the self-produced Easy Prey amid some higher than normal expectations, with a title that suggests he’s being subjected to increasingly critical scrutiny. Opening track “Sunnyville” and its revealing follow-up “Where I Started From” find him vulnerable, due to especially sedate circumstance. However, Smith’s always possessed an ability to blur the boundaries and, here again, he does an admirable job. That agreeable disposition is evidenced in the soft shuffle of “Make Me Change My Mind,” the mid-tempo pace of “Heavy Hangs the Crown,” the soulful set-up of “Try Your Best,” and the gospel-like flourish of “Turn This Ship Around” and “Drop Me a Line.” Hints of Paul Simon and a more down-home demeanor are revealed in “Easy Prey” and “We Tried Like Hell,” respectively, before the album is brought to a stirring conclusion with the celebratory “Robin, Robin.” Smith deserves credit for creating an emphatic impression, even while maintaining his generally unassuming stance.