Latest releases reviewed

KENNY ROGERS
21 Number Ones
Capitol
*

Kenny Rogers is one of the reasons Nashville got a bad name - this country crooner has been responsible for so many awful songs that he should be on an unwanted poster. Apart from the odd shaft of light, such as the admittedly hilarious Lucille, these "hits" are monuments to rank bad taste. as any Karaoke night will prove. Rogers sings with mind-boggling smarm and remarkable detachment from the songs, though I can't say I blame him for that. What can be laid at his door is repeated violations of the taste code. But given his track record, I bet that keeps him up at night. www.capitolnashville.com  - Joe Breen

JON SANDERS
Latitudes
Claddagh Records
***

Music can shed light on the delicious intricacies of multiculturalism far more adroitly than spoken language. Jon Sanders is a Dingle-based English guitarist who's continually pushed the boundaries of traditional music, and this time is no different. His is a genteel guitar style, drenched in a love of obtuse rhythms and melodies whose provenance is owed as much to Iberian haughtiness as to multi-layered minutiae of Indian and eastern European music. Collaborating with Polish jazz singer Gosia Koscielniak on the Betty Blue-esque Marienetki, and with west Kerry piper Eoin Duignan on Garvey in Galicia, Sanders has ignited a fire whose embers would burn happily in the quiet corners of a jazz cafe or in the hearth of a snug in Ballyferriter. A canny musical curiosity that refuses to be boxed in. www.jon-sanders.com Siobhán Long