Roots

The latest releases reviewed.

PORTER WAGONER Wagonmaster Anti ****

Porter Wagoner is one of the icons of Nashville. His penchant for Nudie suits and other garish trappings strike an ironic pose in a place which irony bypasses. As he approaches 80, this collection, produced by Marty Stuart, attempts to place Wagoner in the same reflective space that was occupied by Johnny Cash in the autumn of his career. Stuart eschews the sounds of modern Nashville for a more personal and traditional journey through Wagoner's music and memories, colouring songs such as Albert Irving with the singer's own recollections. The result is a finely etched portrait of a Nashville music legend and of the kind of simple, honest, emotionally driven music that made country so powerful. Wagoner remains in remarkable voice, especially on Committed to Parkview - the song Johnny Cash wrote when he heard that Wagoner had been committed to the Nashville sanitorium. www.porter wagoner.com JOE BREEN

Download tracks: A Place to Hang My Hat, Committed to Parkview, A Fool Like Me

LUCY KAPLANSKY Over the Hills Red House ***

As a fully qualified psychologist, perhaps singer-songwriter Lucy Kaplansky could analyse why she is not the major star she threatened to become a couple of albums back. The New Yorker is a fine singer, rich in timbre and sombre in tone, but her own material lacks definition and real personality, the kind of edge that Mary Chapin Carpenter, someone similar in style, has in spades. Yet that cannot be said of her songs on this album. The death of her beloved father inspired the moving Today's the Day, while Manhattan Moon, Over the Hills and The Gift all track the ebb and flow of family life, the things we inherit and the values we pass on. Her covers, usually a strength, are more problematic - More Than This, Ring of Fire, Swimming Song and Somewhere Trouble Don't Go are competent but lack distinction. Kaplansky remains a strong performer but somewhere short of outstanding. www.lucykaplansky.com JOE BREEN

Download tracks: Manhattan Moon, Today's the Day, Someday Soon