Dr. John has recorded steadily over the years, weaving a tapestry of work featuring the various strains of music prevalent in his native New Orleans.  But with his latest release, Locked Down, Dr. John returns to that familiar foundation he laid down in Gris-Gris.   With the support of The Black Keys’ guitarist Dan Auerbach, Dr. John has created a work that would fit in well with those earlier works. 

There are numerous strong tracks on Locked Down, each of which reveals Dr. John’s penchant for exotic rhythms and eery sound effects.   The opening title track incorporates a familiar groove reminiscent of Dr. John’s more mainstream funk of In the Right Place, as does the second track, “Revolution.”  But the third track, “Big Shot,” takes the next step into a spaced-out weirdness that at moments echoes Gris-Gris.  For a taste of Dr. John’s delicious keyboard work, check out ”Ice Age.”  ”Kingdom if Izzness” is classic Dr. John, and “Eleggua” incorporates the kind of rhythmic cool madness that made Gris-Gris so memorable.             

With Locked Down, Dr. John proves he is still in top form.

Initially formed in 2005 after meeting at the Black Banjo Gathering at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, the Drops have changed personnel but maintained that raw, old-timey flavor with multi-instrumentalists Don Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens and Hubby Jenkins playing a variety of banjos, fiddles, guitars, jugs and bones.  In performance, the presence of vocal percussionist Matta creates a deceptive aural cue - listening, one keeps expecting to see someone on stage with a drum set (I saw the Drops open for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones last year, which, with Futureman tapping his drumitar, creates a similarly deceptive sound vs. appearance).  

The musicians are all excellent, but it is Giddens that puts the attitude into the music.  On Genuine Negro Jig, their Grammy-award winning 2010 release, Giddens’ singing on “Hit ‘Em Up Style” was a highlight of that recording.  On Leaving Eden, she belts out lead vocals on “Ruby, Are You Mad at Your Man?,” ”Country Girl,” and “West End Blues” with the verve of a Janis Joplin.  But she is not a hoarse torch singer – the crisp, clear musical quality of her voice is steady throughout her excellent solos.  

 The Drops were formed as a traditional-style string band like something John or Alan Lomax might have stumbled upon during the Depression, but with the inspiration of their mentor Joe Thompson they have taken their music to a place all its own.  Leaving Eden, which was produced by Buddy Miller, is another special record by a special group of young people.

Audio Download: The Carolina Chocolate Drops, “Country Girl”

Taylor’s career, like his musical style, has been unconventional. He was active in the 1970s but gave up his career to be come an antiques broker for many years until friends convinced him in 1995 to get back into music.  Thus, Taylor is relatively new on the scene despite his years.  After a couple of independently released albums, Blue Eyed Monster in 1997 and When Negroes Walked the Earth in 2000, Taylor produced his early masterpiece with White African in 2001.  Each successive effort has moved a little further away from  traditional blues influences.  On 2007′s Definition of a Circle, the tune “Long Long Life” can best be described as a sort of free-form jazz.  In 2008, Taylor produced Recapturing the Banjo, which was a sort of concept album intended to feature the banjo in various African-American music forms from ragtime to rock, thus “recapturing” the instrument that originally came to America with the slave trade from West Africa.  Recapturing the Banjo featured collaborations with several of the best of the next generation of African-American bluesmen, including Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Guy Davis, Don Vappie and Keb’ Mo’. 

Contraband moves in a direction similar to Taylor’s 2010 album, Clovis People, Vol. 3, but with a more consistent musical focus.  It explores rich musical roots, sometimes haunting and otherworldly.  The album features the talents of several several of Taylor’s regulars, cornet player Ron Miles, keyboardist Brian Juan, violinist Anne Harris, guitarist Jon Paul Johnson, pedal steel player Chuck Campbell, djembe player Fara Tolno, drummer Larry Thompson, and bassists Cassie Taylor (Taylor’s daughter) and Chuck Edmunds.  But Taylor also incorporates the services of a full gospel choir on several of the numbers, such as the opener, “The Devil’s Gonna Lie.”  As always, Taylor takes on serious subjects, including the quandary of slaves captured by the Union Army during the Civil War, who were free yet not free – contraband.  Many of the songs on Contraband, especially “Look to the Side” and “Blind Piano Teacher,” are beautiful and spellbinding.   The combination of cornet, choir and electric and pedal steel guitar make a for an equally complex, yet more upbeat recording than Clovis People.   Contraband should stand alongside his early more rustic, White African, as a creative career highlight.       

In this case, “project” really does seem to describe the work that went into the album.  It was recorded in New Orleans and her backing band is the rhythm section for The Funky Meters, a New Orleans institution.  Those guys, plus Ike Stubblefield on Hammond B3, create a dirtiness that’s more forward than many of Ruthie’s other efforts.  But keeping the Lord’s music in the balance are the Blind Boys of Alabama, featured on 4 tunes, and soul master William Bell on another one.  The net result is a disc that’s about half gospel & blues and half rhythm & soul.  It’s a potent mix.

The gospel tinged part of the album manifests itself right from the beginning: Welcome Home is a Foster original with the Blind Boys that’s the poetic explanation of faith, “my mind didn’t know how to get there, I trusted my heart and, I swear, my soul came to welcome me home.”  Other songs in this spirit are Lord Remember Me, the Robbie Robertson number It Makes No Difference, and a fantastic a capella The Titanic, also with the Blind Boys of Alabama.  Good material for your Sunday morning rotation.

The other theme running through the disc is remakes of some familiar songs from other artists.  I hesitate to call them covers because several of them bear little resemblance to the original.  Ring Of Fire is unrecognizable unless you really listen to the lyrics.  There’s almost a Motown feel to the Los Lobos penned This Time.  Ruthie puts a dark blues spin on the Pete Seeger classic If I Had A Hammer.  And her version of the CSNY hit Long Time Gone is, IMO, a major improvement on a song that I already loved.

In the end this is a strong offering from an artist that’s already at the top of her game.  Ruthie’s vocals are great, the backing band is stupendous, and the song selection is great.  I just dare you to sit still for the whole album.  Can I have a Hallelujah?

Start chair dancing with this single, an original number, Aim For the Heart.

Audio Download: Ruthie Foster, “Aim For the Heart”

Bromberg’s career has been the oddest, with long periods of withdrawal from public performance to pursue his passion as a violin-maker. Between 1971 and 1980 he released no fewer than ten albums (check out Demon in Disguise and Wanted Dead or Alive for some of his best), but since 1980, he has entered a recording studio only a handful of times. Between 1990 and 2007 he released no records (although his old record company rereleased most of his back catalog and produced a retrospective in 1998). In 2007, he released his ‘comeback’ album, the all-acoustic Try Me One More Time, which featured a bit more slide guitar playing than his 1970s efforts but otherwise was totally in character. With his newest release, Use Me, Bromberg has upped the ante, this time calling on longtime associates Levon Helm, John Hiatt, Keb’ Mo’, Dr. John, Tim O’Brien, Vince Gill, Los Lobos, Linda Ronstadt and Widespread Panic to collaborate. For those who are songwriters, he asked them to write him a song to play on the album. The album includes songs by Bromberg, Hiatt, O’Brien, David Hidalgo (of Los Lobos) and Dr. John. Then he performed each number with its songwriter, and collaborated with the non-songwriters. And Use Me was no acoustic effort. The cover photo of Bromberg clutching a Telecaster was the first indication this album would be different than the last. Its up-tempo tone makes puts it among the most listenable Bromberg albums ever – equal to his radically eclectic early work (R&B and bluegrass on the same disc!). Bromberg’s singing style makes his him an acquired taste, but to the initiated that doesn’t matter. Among the album highlights are “Blue is Fallin’” (with O’Brien), “Diggin’ in the Deep Blue Sea” (with Keb’ Mo’), “The Long Goodbye” (with Los Lobos) and “Lookout Mountain Girl” (with Vince Gill).

Ry Cooder has mined many of the same veins of roots music but has gained more notoriety with the wine and brie set with his forays into movies and world music (most of which, don’t get me wrong, are excellent). But Cooder’s own work is more down home, and his guitar playing distinct (check out Into the Purple Valley or Paradise and Lunch among his 1970s work). In recent years, he has been focusing on concept albums that spotlight Cooder’s populist political bent. Although Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down is not a concept album, it does feature some of the populist themes of those recent effort and takes a tone somewhat similar to 2007′s My Name is Buddy. Featuring all original songs, it opens with Cooder’s musical diatribe about the financial crisis – “No Banker Left Behind.” The album runs from the gamut from folk to Spanish-tinged ballad to rock to blues. As always, the playing is excellent. Check out “John Lee Hooker for President” for an uncanny homage to both the singing and guitar playing style of Hooker.

On Here We Rest Isbell brings it all together. The album is very laid back, and full of passion and pain. However, he shows us all facets of his dynamic talents. He shows that a great Singer-Songwriter is not confined by style. Musically, the album is as diverse as Isbell’s influences. He delivers Country, Soul, Blues, and (in case you have forgotten) the man can still Rock. His band, The 400 Unit keeps the edges rough, which gives the album an undeniable authenticity. In the end. I was really glad I made it past the beginning. Here We Rest is astounding from open to close, and is truly a career defining album. It sets the standard, by which his future releases will be measured.

Audio Download: Jason
Isbell & the 400 Unit, “Codeine”

Then there is Lucinda Williams’ new project Blessed , which has great musicianship delivering a Soulful Blues with deep roots. Even More impressively, the lyrics not only affect the listener, they rip their heart open, exposing the deepest part of the soul and speak directly to it. This is not an exaggeration in the slightest, and your first listen to Blessed will prove it. The album opens with ”Convince Me”, which builds from a quiet question to a Rockin’ feeling of hope. The title track demonstrates, in a dramatic way, that we are all Blessed everyday. However, we do not look for blessings, so we miss them as they move right in front of us. Indeed the theme of the album seems to be, that in always searching for more, we discount what we already have. We tend to long for something illusory, ignoring the good in our current reality. When we move on, we are just running away. Running never fulfills, but Williams doesn’t pretend to know what does fulfill. She simply provides reflection for the journey. It is odd for an Album to be full of pain, without leading to hopelessness.

The producer of Blessed is Grammy Award-winning Don Was. Was co-produced the project with Eric Liljestrand and Tom Overby. Blessed features special guests Rami Jaffe on keyboards, Matthew Sweet on vocals Greg Leisz and Elvis Costello on guitar. In fact, Costello’s guitar work on “Seeing Black” is amazing.

Buy the album on March 1st and see for yourself.

Alvin wrote and recorded the track for the FX series “Justified.” Alvin will also appear in the episode, which is based in the fictional town of Harlan County, KY.

For those of us counting the days until winter ends, we’ve now got another reason to look forward to summer — a new album from Alvin. If this track is an early indication, we’re in for a treat.

Dave Alvin – “Harlan County Line” by Yep Roc Music Group

The guest list is impressive featuring, Sam Bush, Kenny Vaughan (Marty Stuart), Ketch Secor and Gill Landry from Old Crow Medicine Show and Byron House. The opening title track is a wake up call to our own mortality, “I will remember the night the Cumberland came alive. It should remind you that you were born to die.” Howver, the shock of the tragedy, is balanced by the call for hope and restoration provided by the song  ”Dear Lazrus”. Combine Farris’ vocal styling with the all-star musicians contributing to the project and you have a donation worth making.