The folk-blues stalwart Chris Smither has been contemplating mortality throughout his decades of songwriting; at 80, he’s more convincing than ever. “All About the Bones,” a modal blues with saxophone joining Smither’s foot-tapping and fingerpicked guitar, pays tribute to bone anatomy — “Some will make you stronger/Others make you tall” — along with the gruff reminder that sooner or later, “they end up on the pile.” — JON PARELES
