Mavericks still thrill after 10-year hiatus
A The Mavericks
In Time
Valory Music Group
First, the good news. The Mavericks are back together and have released their first album in a decade. Now, the better news. It’s an astounding, gripping work that thrills from beginning to end. This rootsy, retro outfit — led by vocalist Raul Malo, one of American music’s best singers — represents a real tapestry of influences with threads of Mexican, Cuban, countrypolitan, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard’s Bakersfield country, Doug Sahm’s Tex-Mex music, pop, blues and more. It’s all woven into a rich musical and emotional fabric — American music as melting pot.
The key to this is Malo’s amazing voice, which echoes Marty Robbins, Roy Orbison and the passionate vocals of mariachi. The band provides a fluid, fiery retro energy that gives it a timeless sound that
stands out against the rock styles Nashville exports as “country.”
Hot tracks: The jittery jive of “That’s Not My Name,” the sexy Latin dance vibe “Back in Your Arms Again,” about surrendering to a lovers’ reunion despite the risks; the wonderful “(Call Me) When You Get to Heaven,” an epochal tango-ish tune that underscores the band’s power and the astounding Malo’s voice, which takes on operatic emotional and musical heights.
— ELLIS WIDNER
B+ Megan Hilty
It Happens All the
Time
Portrait/Sony Masterworks
For her debut solo album, Megan Hilty, a Broadway veteran and one of the stars of NBC’s Smash, didn’t go for the typical Broadway star mix of standards and show tunes.
Instead, she has put together a half-and-half mix of original songs and covers that falls more under the adult contemporary and pop umbrella. It’s unexpected, but the results are mostly satisfying and show off her versatility as a performer. She has a rich, full voice and with her stage training, Hilty knows how to act through a song. It shows, particularly on “Be a Man,” which ranges from resigned to pleading and angry.
The songs selected fit into a theme: breaking up and finding new love. The popheavy “Walk Away” and “Hopin’” are pretty generic but there’s more success with her gentle cover of the 1980s Don Henley hit “The Heart of the Matter” and original songs like the catchy “No Cure.”
Hot tracks: “No Cure,” “The Blower’s Daughter,” “Be a Man,” “Wise Up.”
— JENNIFER NIXON
B+ The Book of Amy
The Book of Amy
Thick Syrup
Forget the spit-shine, this is raw, Appalachia/Ozark/ hillbilly string music that is sweet and crude. On the instrumentals, you almost expect to hear Shelby Foote talking about a Civil War battle, while Liz Downing sounds like some long-lost member of the Carter family with her unadorned, earthy vocals. Rounding out the band are Mark Jickling of Half Japanese fame and Rebby Sharp of Orthotonics, not exactly the first names that come to mind when thinking of this kind of music, but they have a pleasantly unrefined, first-take mentality that fits splendidly with this material.
Hot tracks: “Why Should I Have to Worry,” “Cripple Creek,” “Answer to Weeping Willow.”
— SEAN CLANCY
B+ The Steeldrivers
Hammer Down
Rounder
A lineup shakeup that happened before Hammer Down hasn’t derailed this traditional bluegrass outfit. This album has everything a serious bluegrass aficionado could want — virtuosic instrumental breaks, tight melodies and dark attitude (the album opens with the mordant, yet winning “Shallow Grave”).
The vocals are better than those on standard bluegrass recordings. Yet there is something a little too rote here, and even die-hard genre fans might wish on the next go ’round for a little more rowdy, a little more something unexpected.
Hot tracks: “Shallow Grave,” “Burnin’ the Woodshed Down.”
— WERNER TRIESCHMANN
B+ Enrico Rava
Rava on the Dance Floor
ECM
Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava has created a striking, stimulating jazz tribute to Michael Jackson. Rava is an elegant and spacious trumpeter. Working with a group of young jazz musicians in Rome, the 11-piece Parco della Musica Jazz Lab, Rava and company take on a number of well- and lesser-known Jackson tunes.
Where Jackson was precise and meticulous, Rava, 70, and arranger Mauro Ottolini loosen things up in this live recording. “Speechless,” the spacious opener, seems too much so. But “Thriller”? Yes, it starts with that familiar horn blast; the arrangement is lively, with improvisational flourishes that give new instrumental explorations. “Smooth Criminal” sparkles with rhythm and Rava’s killer solos.
Nothing mournful — this tribute radiates joy.
Hot tracks: The unabashedly funky and wondrous “Blood on the Dance Floor” (a hot dance remix could work), a gorgeously tender New Orleans-splashed “Smile” and the imaginative “Thriller.”
— ELLIS WIDNER