Album: David Johansen and the Harry Smiths

Shaker, Chesky

David Johansen's career path has been a curious one, reversing backwards from the tawdry glam-rock of the New York Dolls through the louche cabaret pastiche of Buster Poindexter to this current incarnation as country-bluesman. And of all his styles, this one seems the most rewarding, drained as it is of the ironic distance and concern for surfaces that marked his earlier endeavours. His band's name signals Johansen's intentions: originally coming together for a one-off tribute to archivist Harry Smith, compiler of the influential Anthology of American Folk Music. They're now on their second album, a collection of mostly antique blues songs rendered with respect and compelling character in various combinations of acoustic guitar, dobro and mandolin, held together by a light but forceful rhythm section. Less dark and introverted than its eponymous predecessor, Shaker leans more on the uptempo appeal of songs like Furry Lewis's "Kassie Jones" and "Furry's Blues", whose rolling 12-string bounce evokes the blues' subsequent mutation into rock'n'roll. Particularly vital, in this respect, are their versions of Muddy Waters's late-Forties classic "I Can't Be Satisfied", which skips along with élan, Lightnin' Hopkins's swingy "My Grandpa Is Old Too" and Son House's "Death Letter", perhaps the best showcase here for Johansen's dry bark of a voice. The only modern inclusion is Gillian Welch's lazy lullaby "My Morphine", nestling among the remnants of an older culture as if deriving from the same bloodline. Further evidence of the resurgent health of American roots music.