Following the success of 2003’s inaugural compilation, the follow-up sways to the same delicious white-boy groove. The cream of ’60s/’70s southern country is here?from Tony Joe White to Dan Penn?torn between smalltown escape and pining for home. White’s “High Sheriff Of Calhoun Parish” drifts in on a haze of woodsmoke; Bobby Gentry’s “Fancy” is stifling humidity personified; Townes Van Zandt gets alarmingly funky on the early “Black Widow Blues” (1966); Shirl Milete’s “Big Country Blues” is a lyrical feast. Best of the lot is Jim Ford’s huge, horn-honking “Harlan County”. Another three are in the pipeline.
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