The latest CD reviews released

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Old Town School of Folk Music Songbook, Vol 1 Bloodshot ***

Springsteen may have stolen the big stage, but there is no shortage of new-style love for old-time folk favourites. Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music has been keeper of the roots flame for a couple of decades, and this cosy album, overflowing with 23 tracks, celebrates the renewal of the unquenchable spirit of these great tunes. There are no big names, lest you think Robbie Fulks and Jon Langford match the bill, but plenty of big, mainly acoustic, performances laced wth conviction and passion. Even the obvious nature of songs such as Wabbash Cannonball, Erie Canal and Trouble in Mind cannot dim the fireside mood of friendly and reassuring familiarity. Nice to know we're all on the same side. Joe Breen

WILLIE NELSON
Songbird Lost Highway ***

I'm among those who would readily listen to Willie Nelson sing the phonebook, but only if Ryan Adams wasn't turning the pages. Adams takes the producer's chair for this frequently ill-fitting collection; his personality and taste clambers all over Nelson's delicate sense of timing and nuance, and Adams's band, The Cardinals, manage to occasionally mug the singer with cumbersome riffs and clunky arrangements. A number of much-loved songs get buried in the dust - Gram Parsons's $1,000 Wedding is best forgotten, while the Fleetwood Mac title track is best described as a mistake. Yet Nelson, being the trouper he is, albeit one who sounds a mite dazed and confused, still does his best to make the most of an ill-judged affair. A classic this ain't. www.willienelson.com  Joe Breen