Hit List

Dayna Kurtz, Postcards from Downtown.

A longtime denizen of the singer-songwriter underground emerges at last with a full studio CD, and it's potent stuff. Dayna Kurtz' singing is deep and dramatic, at times hair-raisingly intense, on songs that touch on folk, alt-rock, classic crooner pop, and even cabaret jazz. Her strong, soulful guitar work underpins the arrangements, which skillfully add strings, accordion, and such things as "weird ass ambient guitar" without obscuring the basic sound of the solo troubadour. Those drawn to the dark shades of Tom Waits, Chris Whitley, and Amy Ray will find much to admire in these vivid musical postcards. (Kismet, www.daynakurtz.com)

—Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers

 

Issa Bagayogo, Timbuktu

Malian singer and virtuoso of the kamélé ngoni (three-stringed hunter's lute) Issa Bagayogo delivers one of the best-realized marriages of sub-Saharan roots music and 21st-century electronica yet to come out of west Africa. Bagayogo challenges expectations, combining the lush, horn-heavy band grooves popularized by Salif Keita with the woody, introspective sound of the ngoni. He backs his hypnotically understated vocals with processed acoustic and electric guitar, a female chorus, beautifully tailored sequenced and live percussion, sub-Saharan strings, balafon, and more, creating inexorable dance grooves consciously built around very traditional acoustic sounds. The result is both widely varied and uniformly entertaining. (Six Degrees, www.sixdegreesrecords.com)

—Danny Carnahan

Craig Dobbins, Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

The gentle grace of these simple, beautiful (mostly) solo guitar arrangements of American sacred music is underscored by Craig Dobbins' relaxed, thoughtful playing. He treats these venerable melodies with great respect, beginning some pieces like "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" with the unadorned melody before harmonizing it in creative but appropriate ways. His settings range from the counterpoint variations of "Come Thou Fount" to the lightly swinging, Chet Atkins—influenced version of "Glory to His Name," and all are played with superb tone, phrasing, and feel. This is meditative and inspirational music no matter what or who your personal "higher power" happens to be. (CBD, www.funkyjunk.com/agw.htm)

—Ron Forbes-Roberts

Solas, The Edge of Silence

Over the last six years, Solas has been steadily evolving away from its traditional roots, with always surprising results. On The Edge of Silence, the band's fifth studio album, there are no trad tunes, no dance sets, and no songs sung in Irish. Donal Clancy's sensitive, propulsive guitar parts hew close to those of former guitarist John Doyle, but the band has overhauled itself in the studio, adding reverb, polyrhythms, tape loops, electric guitar, keyboard effects, and trap drums. For all that complexity, it's a strikingly austere combination, with settings that approach new age at the same time that they borrow from pop, world, and folk music. Whether the playing is as richly harmonious as the instrumental "Charmy Chaplin," or as stark as the cover of Bob Dylan's "Dignity," the musicianship is always first-rate, the ideas fresh, and the new direction filled with unexpected pleasures. (Shanachie, www.shanachie.com)

—Kenny Berkowitz

Lori McKenna, Pieces of Me

Stoughton, Massachusetts, native Lori McKenna possesses a singing voice that combines Nanci Griffith's droll Americana inflections with Alison Krauss' fluttery delivery. On her sophomore CD, the 31-year-old mother of four plies sentimental images of family life and a wry skepticism toward religion to 11 tracks of ingenuous folk-pop. McKenna's lyrics are thorny and vivid in places, as in "I'm not a winner, I'm just brilliantly bitter / I'm sealed by my skin, but broken inside," from "Never Die Young," which features backing vocals by Richard Shindell. Other guests include Jennifer Kimball and Meghan Toohey. (Catalyst/Signature Sounds, www.signature-sounds.com)

—Karen Iris Tucker

Tom Adams, Adams County Banjo

Five-string banjoist Tom Adams has earned the fitting nickname of "The Right-Hand Man." Possessing one of the most authoritative, imperturbable picking attacks in all of bluegrass, Adams truly makes the banjo ring, and on this solo CD he displays all his instrumental gifts. The opening cut, "Ginny Whitt's," sets the tone immediately with powerful, up-tempo playing that retains a lyrical, melodic lilt. Backed by Stuart Duncan, Sam Bush, Bryan Sutton (who plays a great guitar solo on "Santa Cruz"), Alison Krauss, Lynn Morris, Rob Ickes, and other bluegrass stars, Adams handles a tremendous array of material–from bluegrass to Celtic to old-time–much of it from his own pen. (Rounder)

—David McCarty

Emiel van Dijk, Across the Borders

Dutch fingerstyle guitarist Emiel van Dijk uses classical, flamenco, steel-string, and 12-string guitars on this CD of gorgeous music influenced by a variety of traditions–Argentine, Brazilian, Cuban, Mediterranean, classical, flamenco, and blues. Van Dijk's playing is full of outstanding rhythms, inventive melodies, insistent bass lines, and sturdy chordal attacks, but his extraordinary technique never overshadows his ideas. Each note is delivered with solid clarity. Most of the compositions on Across the Borders are original, but van Dijk's arrangement of Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" is also inventive. (Acoustic Music, www.acoustic-music.de)

—Gary Joyner

Rodney Hayden, The Real Thing

Making his debut at 22, singer-songwriter Rodney Hayden's smooth, clean-cut alt-country takes its cues from George Strait and Robert Earl Keen. Produced by Rich Brotherton (in Austin) and Tony Brown (in Nashville), The Real Thing is firmly planted in the twin traditions of Texas folk and Nashville country, with broken hearts, crying steel guitars, and a lean honky-tonk beat. Hayden's covers reach to the far edges of country, with songs by Robbie Fulks, Billy Joe Shaver, Chip Taylor, and Tom Waits. In his own songs ("Highways and Heartaches" and "You Don't Talk I Don't Listen"), Hayden finds a middle ground between coffeehouse and roadhouse, establishing himself as a young, emotionally honest writer with a great sense of history and a bright future. (Rosetta, www.rodneyhayden.com)

—Kenny Berkowitz

Marco Pereira, Valsas Brasileiras

Over the past century, many Brazilian musicians have embraced the European waltz form and made it into something distinctly their own. Guitarist, arranger, and composer Marco Pereira illustrates the evolution of this process with a program of 12 waltzes that begins with "Eponina," an Old World—sounding piece by Ernesto Nazareth, and concludes with the driving "Valsa Negro" by contemporary pianist Leandro Braga. Also included are waltzes by Antonio Carlos Jobim (his "Eu Te Amo" is a highlight), Garoto, Hélio Delmiro, and Pereira himself. These pieces reflect the romanticism, mystery, joie de vivre, and harmonic/melodic invention that characterizes so much Brazilian music, and all are exquisitely played by one of Brazil's best guitarists. (GSP, www.gspguitar.com)

—Ron Forbes-Roberts

John Hartford, Steam Powered Aereo-Takes

Recorded in the early 1970s, these "lost" sessions from John Hartford's incredibly fertile Aereo-Plain recording reveal some of the first signs of progressive bluegrass. The 18 tracks include outtakes, demos, and alternate tracks recorded by Hartford and acoustic superpickers Norman Blake, Vassar Clements, Randy Scruggs, and Tut Taylor. Some tunes, like the haunting, mandolin-drenched "Presbyterian Guitar," are unique glimpses into the creative process that led to the versions released on Aereo-Plain. Others, like the startling "Oasis," show the daring direction Hartford's Aereo-Plain band was taking during this exceptionally creative period. (Rounder)

—David McCarty

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