Island singer-songwriter Jemima James has much to celebrate this summer.

Her newly-recorded album, Silver and Gold, came out digitally in July on the Team Love label, with a vinyl LP release on the way for turntable enthusiasts.

And after a sold-out debut last summer, Billy Baloo — the musical Ms. James co-wrote with her late partner Michael Mason — is returning this weekend to the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, with the authors’ son Willy Mason in the title role. The show opens on August 23 and runs through Sept. 14.

A career singer-songwriter who, with Michael Mason, once worked for hitmakers Famous Music in New York City, Ms. James recorded her latest album at the Vermont studio of multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Lilah Larson, who produced Silver and Gold and appears on several tracks.

Willy Mason adds vocal harmonies to songs such as Long Alaska Night, an original by Ms. James on the challenges and complexities of love — a theme she returns to throughout the album.

Silver Rope, the leadoff track, has an easy beat that belies the sexual tension in Ms. James’s spare but telling lyrics: “Words fall off like leaves when you are near/Moving air is the only thing I hear,” and the chorus that confesses “When I burn in hell/It won’t be this hot there, I can tell.”

Her song Lazybones jokingly chides a partner for various laxities, while Oh Henry is a delightfully louche proposition of a song. The jaunty, half-in-Spanish Courte Madera is spelled that way on purpose, as it describes a cross-country series of proposals and demurrals.

Ms. James’s album takes its title from her pensive song If I Can’t Get the Gold, a reflection in waltz time — complete with parlor piano — on accepting the good in love, instead of holding out for perfection.

For the rest of Silver and Gold, Ms. James drew on the rich resources of Americana, from the early singing-cowboy days (Spanish is a Loving Tongue, Utah Trail) to Nashville country (I’m Not Lisa, Jessi Colter’s biggest hit, from 1975).

The album closes with Shake Sugaree, by Elizabeth Cotten, one of the long-obscure American artists whose unvarnished, homemade music found enthusiastic new audiences in the 1960s through releases on Folkways Records.

Ms. James sings harmony on this track, with Ms. Larson taking the lead on Ms. Cotten’s song about pawning it all for a good time.

Other musicians on Silver and Gold, from the Vineyard and beyond, include Lexie Roth, Johnny Hoy, Hannah Read, Levi Gillis, Josh Campbell, Shawn Barber, Anna Barber, Cassandra Jenkins, Aiden Earley and Tokata Iron Eyes.

A dog named Sonoma is also credited with barking on the album, which Ms. Larson and Ms. James collaborated to record in an easygoing, informal style without compromising the sound quality, which is clear and intimate throughout the 10 tracks.

Along with its audiophile-level sound — the LP should be a treat — Silver and Gold also is sequenced with attention to how each song follows the one before, another sign of high craftsmanship from Ms. James and her producer. Better not to play this one on shuffle.   

Silver and Gold is available on listening platforms now, and Team Love is taking advance orders for the vinyl edition.