Shawn Colvin & Steve Earle - Colvin album review: intermittant connections between the two folk survivors

The duet album is back in vogue. However, that recent gem by Teddy Thompson and Kelly Jones illustrates that for duets to work, the principals must connect.

Certainly Colvin and Earle, two giants of Americana, have much in common: broken marriages, substance abuse, activism and age (she is 60, he 61). They certainly do connect, sharing each other's pain and passion, on the pick of the 10 country-folk tracks: the confessional The Way That We Do, the sham-gospel Tell Moses, the edgy You're Right (I'm Wrong) and the vulnerable You're Still Gone.

The four covers, including a plodding Ruby Tuesday, lack the same purpose, as do the remaining tracks in varying degrees.

steveearle.com; shawncolvin.com