Joe Henry "Blood From Stars"

I nearly choked on my cereal the other morning when I read the
Birthdays section of the paper, wishing Happy Happys' to
Country Musician Joe Henry! Now I've only been aware of him since 1999, and there's nothing country about him at all since then. OK, OK, so he was at the forefront of what came to be known as "alt country" with his earlier work in the 90's, but come on people, that was 15 years ago (and they wonder why newspapers are dying). The four albums since '99 have been trippy, subtle, jazzy, bluesy...all over the board. They sound like they could have been produced by Daniel Lanois or T-Bone Burnett, you know, the kind that need to be absorbed and experienced. "Blood " has that feeling, like you're sitting in a dark, smoky jazz club, JH on the piano, Marc Ribot seated with guitar in hand, an upright bassist and the tiny trap kit (with brushes) in back. His voice comes off a little like Leon Russell, with songs written in a Tom Waits style. These songs are what I like to call "aural sculptures." He's even had one of them (Stop) "dumbed down" by his sister-in-law, Madonna (Don't Tell Me)!