After singing about the life of Jesus on the experimental album The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard (2007), American singer / songwriter Rickie Lee Jones returns to her familiar sound on Balm In Gilead. For this she delved into her archive of songs that she had never completed. As a result, the opener Wild Girl takes you back to her famous debut album from 1979. With a cold, jazzy talkative vocals
… and a vocal swipe here and there, Jones is back in Coolsville. But there is also country on Balm In Gilead, such as in Remember Me (with Alison Krauss on violin) while she sings wordlessly to the groove of James Brown's It's A Man's, Man's Man's World on the bizarre The Blue Ghazel. Special are the contributions of the raspy singing Vic Chesnutt, such as in the ghostly gospel His Jeweled Floor. A warm and organic production brings all this diversity together, in addition to the unique voice of Jones of course. (MR)more