Just Do Me Right
Singer and guitarist Asie Payton died in 1997, leaving one posthumous album,Worried, as his legacy. Or so we thought. He expired at the wheel of his tractor in the fields of Mississippi all right, but his minuscule discography now doubles with the release of this new collection, containing formerly unfinished tracks, mostly from the mid-'90s. (A couple of numbers date back to 1980, when a friend haphazardly taped him in performance at his home quarters.) The record company modernizes the original, rough-hewn settings of Payton's singing and guitar playing with swampy grooves provided by bass, organ, sonic effects, and whatnot. Contrived spells result. More convincing are Payton's unaccompanied, naked displays of distress over busted romance in "Livin' in So Much Pain" and "Why'd You Do It."--Frank-John Hadley