In the Hills of California
Rare is the voice that is both as deep and as warm as Greg Brown's. Though the veteran troubadour boasts the most weather-beaten baritone this side ofJohnny Cash, there's sunshine in the smile of his wry phrasing and a disarming playfulness in his work. This two-disc set includes recordings from six years of California's annualKate WolfMusic Festival and, while it lacks the flow of a single performance, the easy intimacy that the Iowa bard enjoys with his audience offsets any disjointedness from track to track. The generous selection of material (more than two and a half hours) includes nine songs Brown has never recorded before. Highlights range from the sly sensuality of "The Way My Baby Calls My Name" and "Slow Food" to the social commentary of "I Want My Country Back" and the droll evocation of life's ironies in "Where Is Maria." The conviction he brings toSmokey Robinson's "You Really Got a Hold on Me" and theBeatles' "Don't Let Me Down" transforms familiar favorites into testaments of faith.--Don McLeese