Roots

The latest CD releases reviewed

WILLIE NELSON
Moment of Forever Lost Highway Records ***

There is not much to say about Willie Nelson that could be said to be new. Signature voice, inspired and eclectic interpreter of songs, remarkable writer and a dab hand at getting the most out of Trigger (his acoustic guitar), Nelson has been there, done that and sold the T-shirt. So this collection of country ballads, blues and bulked-up rockist songs is the usual fare, a cocktail of the banal and the brilliant that carries you through the lonesome night. Nelson fans are forgiving (they've learned to be) and their reward is such tracks as the barroom gem Keep Me from Blowing Away. On the debit side is a limp version of Randy Newman's Louisiana, which manages to shed all the key anger of the original. But overall this is a good set, balanced between the hackneyed and the memorable with the 75-year-old greybeard still in great voice. www.willienelson.com   

Download tracks: Gravedigger, Keep Me from Blowing Way, Worry B Gone

PUNCH BROTHERS
Punch Nonesuch ***

Punch features some of the most blistering solos you're ever likely to hear on an acoustic band album, and the ambition of this star- studded quintet leaves others in the shade. That said, it might seem churlish to reward such musical wizardry with a humdrum recommendation. But the Punch Brothers, led by former Nickel Creek mandolin ace Chris Thile, have produced a record that struggles to find its heart in a maze of complex rhythms and settings that course through Thile's epic four-part journey,

The Blind Leaving the Blind. The album centrepiece is not necessarily easy music to like. Bluegrass in tone, it wanders a laboured path to conclusion coloured by beautiful highlights. And that is pretty much the story of the album in full. www.punchbrothers.com

© 2008 The Irish Times