Village: A Celebration of the Music of Greenwich

The Village in question here is Greenwich, and the concept is simple: gather an assortment of contemporary artists to pay tribute to the early folk singer/songwriter movement of the '60s, specifically as heard in the New York clubs, by covering songs associated with those heady times. Naturally Bob Dylan looms over everything, and fully six of the 13 tracks are Dylan classics of the era, beginning with Rickie Lee Jones' good-time bluesy workup of Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues," one of the key salvos in Dylan's rock conversion. Lucinda Williams removes the anger that imbued Dylan's own "Positively 4th Street" and transforms it into a melancholy lament, while Shelby Lynne's country minimalism in "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" is true to Dylan's original without aping his arrangement. There were, of course, other artists on the scene, or at least loosely associated with it, and some of the best are represented. Mary Chapin Carpenter's wistful "Violets of Dawn" does justice to Eric Andersen's original, Bruce Hornsby keeps it simple, using his piano to deliver the longing inherent in John Sebastian's "Darlin' Be Home Soon," and Los Lobos are spirited in their take on "Guantanamera," written by Joseíto Fernández but usually associated with Pete Seeger. Joni Mitchell, a Canadian, came to Greenwich Village initially to hawk her songs, and her "Both Sides Now," a hit for Judy Collins, is given a pensive, semi-orchestral arrangement by Rachel Yamagata. While Cowboy Junkies drain the life out of Tim Buckley's "Once I Was," John Oates is behind one of the album's highlights, the gospel-fied "He Was a Friend of Mine," a song credited here to Traditional but known by its various interpretations by Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, and the Byrds. ~ Jeff Tamarkin