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March 22, 2009

Steve Martin - The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo - 40 Prod.
Perhaps you didn’t know that comedian/actor Martin is also a bluegrass musician, and not a bad one, at that; his skills on the banjo are more than passable, but he’s also smart enough to surround himself with a plethora of other talented musicians on this set, among them Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, and Tim O’Brien. Martin wrote most of the songs here; the lyrics are a little simplistic at times, but the stories are appealing and fit the homegrown style of music that Martin favors, whether he’s singing about his runaway dog (“Wally on the Run”), his school days (“Late for School”), or taking on more traditionally-themed numbers such as “Hoedown at Alice’s” and “Banana Banjo.”


Van Morrison - Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl - LTTL Records
Van Morrison recorded the Astral Weeks album back in 1968, and it continues to be listed as a landmark album today. Four whopping decades later, a 63-year old Morrison brought that very album, in its entirety, to a special performance at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl, and it proved to be just as impressive live forty years later as it did on its debut. The interesting thing is that Morrison doesn’t attempt to precisely duplicate the original album here; instead, he takes his forty years of experience and stretches his Astral Weeks compositions beyond their original borders, rendering them more jazzy at times, more rock at others, but always with those distinctive Van vocals.



Chris Isaak - Mr. Lucky - Reprise
Isaak is back with his first studio album (excepting his holiday works) since 2002, and he’s brought a few friends with him, among them Michelle Branch and Trisha Yearwood. Although he hasn’t really had a chance to stretch his vocals for the past seven years, he doesn’t seem to have lost any of his crooning power, and sticks to his usual themes of love won and love lost. Both Branch and Yearwood were guests on Isaak’s television variety show, and their duets with him are standouts on this set, Branch on “I Lose My Heart” and Yearwood on “Breaking Apart”; other songs you’ll want to give an extra spin to are “Mr. Lonely Man,” “We’ve Got Tomorrow,” and “Take My Heart.”



B.B. King - One Kind Favor - Geffen
With the assistance of one T Bone Burnett, the legendary and unmatchable B.B. King resurfaces to gaze over the railway yard and offers up more quintessential B.B. - burbling, rumbling, real blues jams backed up by another peer-based B.B. backing band, this time around featuring drummer Jim Keltner, bass players Nathan East and Mike Elizondo, Neil Larsen on the B-3, and pianist Dr. John. B.B.’s still got it - age ain’t nothin’ but a number to this 82-year old talent - and he and his guitar continue to wail through such tunes as “Waiting For Your Call,” the old-school “Midnight Blues,” and B.B.’s insightful, resolute take on T-Bone Walker’s “I Get So Weary.”