The latest releases reviewed
EMMYLOU HARRIS Songbird Rhino ****
I'm all for digital music, but sometimes it's better to have the real thing, such as this four-CD collection subtitled "Rare tracks and forgotten gems". This is a fan's heaven. Not only are the CDs stuffed to the gills with nearly 40 years of of music, but a DVD includes such performances as a timeless version of the classic Together Again (with The Hot Band) and, less predictably, a snippet of Harris on Animal Rescue. With 78 tracks on show, a 200-page booklet with images, introduction and essays and, most valuably, a track- by-track commentary that provides context and insight into Harris's most inspired song selection. True, the classics were already rounded up on 2005's Highways and Heartaches, but Emmylou's aching, evocative voice reaches many less celebrated highs here. www.emmylouharris.com JOE BREEN
Download tracks: Ooh Las Vegas, My Father's House, Boy from Tupelo
JILL BARBER For All Time Maple Music ****
I missed this Canadian singer- songwriter's appearance at last year's Hard Working Class Heroes Festival, but I'll be waiting at the door next time if this album is any guide to her performance. Blessed with a sensuous, silky voice, Barber opens with Just for Now, a 1950s jukebox slowburner with Patsy Cline written all over it. Against a backdrop of a sinewy, bluesy guitar and swaying backup singers, she carries the tale of ill-fated love with just the right degree of pathos. Its luminosity places what comes next in the shade, though there is much to admire, particularly songs such as the folky emotional title track, Ashes to Ashes and the lively Rufus-like When I'm Making Love to You. It's intense, it's intimate and it's very good in a quiet way. www.jillbarber.com JOE BREEN
Download tracks: Just for Now, When I'm Making Love to You
THE STACKS Down to the Black No label ***
Amid some tasty guitar picking and five-string banjo, Waterford- siders The Stacks dip their toes into the waters of the recording world with some elan. Despite the sinking feeling provoked by their choice of opener, a weak-willed cover of Tom Waits's Old Shoes (And Picture Postcards), this quartet prove their musicianship with a humdinger reading of Jesse James and a timely teaser of their own songwriting ability on Last Moon. In between, they detour wildly off track towards The Dubliners and Christy Moore terrain of McAlpine's Fusiliers and Galtee Mountain Boy. The Stacks inhabit a rootsy world with far more credibility, sidling around the edges of the political tradition like toddlers who've strayed unwittingly into a Sinn Féin convention. A promising debut, steered confidently by producer Garry Ó Briain. www.stacksband. com SIOBHÁN LONG
Download tracks: Last Moon, Tom Bigbee Waltz
