Cat Power

The term singer-songwriter has led to many music fans conflating two very different jobs; there’s a big difference between being a writer and being an interpreter of song. Cat Power (Chan Marshall), on the backs of her career-best originals album (The Greatest) proves that she’s a great singer, full stop, on her second album of cover tunes. As with 2000’s The Covers Album, CP showcases her love of decades-old classic wordsmiths and their accompanying sounds, picking selections from Hank Williams ("Ramblin’ (Wo)Man”) or Janis Joplin ("Woman Left Lonely”) or Joni Mitchell ("Blue”), while surprises come in the form of the Highwaymen ("Silver Stallion”) and her own songs, like "Metal Heart” from her album Moon Pix. Backing her is an all-star band of like-minded traditionalists, including the Blues Explosion’s Judah Bauer, as well as haunted songwriter in his own right Jim White, and guest appearances by Spooner Oldham and Chavez’s Matt Sweeney. The result sounds like classic rock’n’roll ⎯ the Band, the Rolling Stones and early Dylan ⎯ in the spirit of Bruce Springsteen’s last album. A great blues band belting out long-beloved songs with a beautifully enigmatic singer at the top of her game? Makes the term "covers record” seem a little stingy.