On Light You Up, Shawn Mullins returns to the decadent L.A. environs portrayed in his signature 1998 “Lullaby” with greater poetic command and more mature insight. With his melodious, slightly rasped-edged vocals, Mullins brings a sense of experience to such story-songs as “California” (the tale of two high-living lovers) and “Tinseltown” (an ode to contentment with a Tom Petty-ish feel). The country-rocking “Murphy’s Song” further underscores the theme of growing up and settling down. This isn’t to say that Light You Up is purely a celebration of domestic bliss. A sense of rage at injustice courses through the Civil War ballad “Catoosa County” and the workingman’s lament “Can’t Remember Summer.” “The Ghost of Johnny Cash” — a vivid portrait of the Man in Black as a tarnished angel — works in a traditional folk mode, while the seductive title tune luxuriates in a Memphis soul-funk groove. The album benefits from stylish production that matches tasty rock-guitar licks with acoustic sounds.