Grapefruit Moon: The Songs of Tom Waits

Tributee: Tom Waits.
Recording information: Hoffman Studios, CA.
Although Southside Johnny (born John Lyon) is most readily associated with fellow New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen, GRAPEFRUIT MOON finds the rock veteran taking on the songs of the Boss's more eccentric kindred spirit--Tom Waits. With his charmingly rough-hewn voice, Southside Johnny is a natural for the Waits canon, though he puts his own bluesy stamp on every tune. Highlights of the set, which at times reaches back to Waits's 1970s lounge-lizard material, include a jazz-tinged, piano-led version of the melancholy "Yesterday Is Here" and a spare, sauntering take on "Walk Away," a track that also features Waits himself on vocals.