TONS OF COOL NEW MUSIC

Lots of great albums came out this week: I'll write about them individually another time. But a quick rundown: 

Solomon Burke's Like A Fire: Mr. Burke's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a few years ago seemed to re-ignite his career, and he's done three great albums with three great producers: Joe Henry, Don Was and Buddy Miller.  This one was produced by Steve Jordan of Keith Richards' s X-Pensive Winos (he's also played with tons of other artists). Ben Harper and keb'mo are among the guests on the album. 

I've always been a bit skeptical of My Morning Jacket. But a pal of mine gave me a burned copy of their new album, Evil Urges, and I dug it on first listen, and decided to buy a copy. 

James Hunter (age 45 1/2 according to his liner note) is one of my favorite new artists of recent years - I can't believe this is the first time I'm writing about him. His last album, People Gonna Talk, was excellent, and I really like the new one, The Hard Way, already. His music is unaffected by pretty much anything that happened in the last, say, four decades. The British Invasion, punk, new wave, hip-hop ... none of that figures into what he does. He's like a Sam Cooke disciple with a mean guitar.  

Jakob Dylan has just released his solo debut, Seeing Things, which was produced by Rick Rubin. I was surprised to see a Jakob Dylan solo album - it's not like The Wallflowers is a democracy - but without keyboardist Rami Jaffe (who has been playing with The Foo Fighters lately), it has a different sound. 

Last, but definitely not least, is Emmylou Harris ' new album, All I Intended To Be. (I listed this in reverse alphabetical order.) Very different from her more modern-sounding recent albums. This one reunites her with her ex-husband Brian Ahern, who produced her first 10 or so albums. A downbeat and sad album, but still beautiful. My favorite will always be Wrecking Ball, but this is a good one, too, and I just love Emmylou.  

Next week, my wallet will get a breather - yes I know the Coldplay album comes out, I like them, but I don't think I'll buy that album.