Home Away
Will Kimbrough may have had his start making meaty rock with theBis-Quitsand Will and the Bushmen, but his subsequent solo discs prove he's a musical omnivore.Home Awaykicks off with chugging electric blues ("Piece of Work"), detours through anthemic rock ("This Modern World" and "Letdown"), and winds up in downcast pop ("Anita O'Day") and folk ("You Don't Know Me So Well"). In between, a giddy, bouncing banjo on "Happier" spites the song's melancholy lyric, while trumpet, Wurlitzer, and synthesizers punctuate the retro-rock "Crackup." The piano ballad "I Love My Baby" finds Kimbrough paying homage toJohn Lennon, and in "Hey Big Sister," his falsetto conveys the wistful ache of this tale of tangled family ties. "When they handed out ambition, I was next to last in line," Kimbrough claims in "Champion of the World." Ignore such self-effacing plaints:Home Awayis the work of a thoroughly smart songwriter skilled in an engaging amalgam of styles.--Anders Smith Lindall