Greg Brown, Slant 6 Mind. The gravel-voiced crooner continues to roll out new albums almost every year. This is Brown's 13th album in 14 years, and it proves that he hasn't lost any of the spark that helped make him one of the premier folk artists in the country. Nor has he lost an iota of that wry wit and cynicism. But just when he seems to pour it on a little too heavily, he puts us at ease with an earthy and sensitive ballad about the gifts of love. Brown's gift is that he can make both types of songs believable. (Red House, PO Box 4044, Minneapolis, MN 55104)
--Lisa Theo
Buena Vista Social Club. Take slide guitar master and world music explorer Ry Cooder, add the very cream of Havana's Afro-Cuban jazz and folk music community, cook under low pressure and tropical heat, and you have the recipe for Buena Vista Social Club, an extraordinary blending of sinuous bass and percussion lines; romance-drenched slide and acoustic guitar accompaniment; and brilliant piano, trumpet, and vocal work by musicians excluded from the outside world for far too long. Featuring great guitar work from Eliades Ochoa and 90-year-old Compay Segundo, the CD carries the listener through languid, sexually charged tunes and hot Cuban big-band arrangements sparked by Cooder's stinging slide guitar. (World Circuit/Nonesuch)
--David McCarty
Jeff Warschauer, The Singing Waltz: Klezmer Guitar and Mandolin. Andy Statman fans are already hip to the mandolin's place in the klezmer continuum. Jeff Warschauer takes the instrument in his own lively direction, skipping and prancing in front of a joyous klezmer ensemble and even adding original numbers to the Jewish jazz repertoire. Warschauer's range of technique and emotion is nothing short of astounding. He moves effortlessly from peppy mando-driven dance tunes to resonant, well-sculpted solo fingerpicked guitar pieces, wringing poignancy from the eastern European scales and using various unnamed open tunings. This is one inspiring CD! (Omega, 27 West 72nd St., New York, NY 10023)
--Danny Carnahan
Jonathan Butler, Do You Love Me? South African native Jonathan Butler plays jazzy, come-hither pop and R&B akin to Kenny G or Boyz II Men. It's an atypical setting for acoustic guitar, but most of the CD's cuts feature tasteful, integral acoustic guitar parts--both nylon- and steel-string--that evoke Earl Klugh, George Benson, Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery, and others. (N2K Encoded Music, 55 Broad St., New York, NY 10004)
--Bryan Powell
Dana Cooper, Miracle Mile. This veteran singer-songwriter's latest is a cornucopia of ear-grabbing folk-tinged tunes, thoughtfully crafted and artfully arranged. Cooper has been performing for more than two decades and has a dozen or so albums to his credit. A regular (and Hall of Fame nominee) at the Kerrville Folk Festival and in the Nashville songwriter scene, Cooper is joined on the album by Maura O'Connell and Lyle Lovett, who sing backup on a couple of tracks. (Compass, 117 30th Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37212)
--Lisa Theo
John Doan, Eire: Isle of the Saints. Conceived as a journey to the Ireland of both history and dream, this suite of original pieces is a showcase for the whole glorious, resonant range of the harp guitar. Doan's instrument percolates with hints of Irish dance fragments and rings with the resonance of the ancient metal-strung harp. At their best, Doan's compositions adopt Irish trad shapes, scales, and moods without adhering slavishly to the genre. Read the lengthy liner notes for Doan's personal epic journey, or close your eyes and take your own. (Hearts of Space, 1 Harbor Dr. #201, Sausalito, CA 94965)
--Danny Carnahan
Eliza Gilkyson, Redemption Road. In a time when many folk artists are toying with songs in the rock realm, Eliza Gilkyson offers gentle, thought-provoking works that resonate with a beautiful romanticism. Her poetic lyrics play nicely with her well-crafted songs, many of which examine romantic love and how happiness seems to come in fleeting moments of closeness and passion. Her voice has a silky smoothness that becomes sensually seductive on "Unless You Want Me." A mature artist with a mature vision. (Silver Wave, PO Box 7943, Boulder, CO 80306)
--Bryan Reesman
Martin Taylor and the Spirit of Django Band, Celebrating Grappelli. As a Django-phile, Martin Taylor's credentials are well in order, but he hews to the spirit of Django, not the letter. This tribute to the late Stephane Grappelli, recorded last year, adds some cool bop-inspired horn arrangements and accordion to the Django lexicon of acoustic guitars, bass, and violin. If Taylor's flamboyantly soulful Django-through-Bird solos aren't enough, his stunning duet work with Grappelli on standards like "Jive at Five" and "It's Only a Paper Moon" ensure his status as the acoustic jazz guitarist of his generation. (Honest, PO Box 23468, Nashville, TN 37202)
--Scott Nygaard
Pat Kirtley, Irish Guitar. Kirtley's nimble and heartfelt renderings of 17 traditional Irish and Irish-influenced melodies are a delight. The sway of John Renbourn, Duck Baker, and Pierre Bensusan is obvious, yet Kirtley articulates the emotional quality of each piece (the deep melancholy of "The Pretty Milkmaid," the agile gaiety of "Rodney's Glory") according to his own vision and sensitivity. The solo guitar format is nicely augmented on "Blind Mary" by Mark Cannon on Irish wooden flute and by guitarist Steve Rector on a spirited "Red Haired Boy." A generous portion of Turlough O'Carolan makes this a potent listening experience. (MainString Music, PO Box 135, Bardstown, KY 40004)
--Jim Ohlschmidt
Chip Taylor, The Living Room Tapes. Chip Taylor, author of "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning," is back from his self-imposed exile with an album of new songs pieced together from broken hearts and smashed guitars. Taylor makes you live his songs much the way Willie Nelson makes an audience feel as if they've been out carousing with him at a Texas roadhouse. It's his knack for writing a good song and singing it so empirically that gives Taylor his power, and these are powerful songs that were written to be played on an acoustic guitar. Check out "To Hell with Her" and tell me anyone ever wrote a better she-left-me-and-I-feel-bad song. (Gadfly, PO Box 5231, Burlington, VT 05402)
--Roger Deitz
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