We’ve been big fans of Greg Brown for a long time now—for almost as long as he’s been obsessed with the Driftless, that rugged beautiful part of the country down where Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota all come together, the land the glaciers forgot to plow under. Seems most of the music-making world is a fan of Brown’s too. Here, Red House Records compiles a tribute to the Mephistopheles of New Folk, with a roster full of talented women performing his songs. It’s not just an exercise in padding the catalog—Red House and Brown are dedicating profits from the album to breast cancer charities. There’s a lot of great stuff here, from Lucinda Williams’ languid take on “Lately” to Iris Dement’s flawless rendering of “The Train Carrying Jimmy Rodgers Home.” Ani DiFranco weighs in with a perfunctory version of “The Poet Game” (the riotgrrl is beginning to lose her quirky sense of modesty, we fear), but the whole thing comes to a throat-tightening crescendo with Brown’s own daughters performing “Ella Mae,” a rarely recorded tribute to his grandmother (and Pieta, Zoe, and Constie’s great grandma) that never sounded so heartbreaking. This pastoral tear-jerker alone is worth several times the cover price.
Going Driftless, An Artists’ Tribute to Greg Brown
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