‘willie and the wheel’

‘willie and the wheel’

Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel (Bismeaux Records)

Grade: A

These are tunes for tough times: Willie Nelson singing Western Swing is bound to bring a smile. The genre became popular during the Depression and still has plenty of life, as “Willie and the Wheel” shows.

The late and legendary producer Jerry Wexler came up with the idea 30 years ago to pair Nelson with swing tunes, but it was 2007 before work on the album began.

Wexler suggested material and the use of horns, which makes the album a natural progression from Nelson’s excellent 2008 collaboration with Wynton Marsalis. Happily, Wexler heard session tapes of “Wheel and the Wheel” before his death.

Many of the songs were originally done by Bob Wills or Milton Brown, and arrangements geared to the dance hall allow plenty of room for pickin’ and plunkin’ and tootin’. Nelson fits right in with his swoops, scoops, jazzy phrasing and singspeak. The man would have been a star in the 1930s, and he may still be one in the 2030s.

—Steven Wine, Associated Press

‘Sing: Chapter 1’

Wynonna Judd (Curb)

Grade: A

Wynonna Judd always has drawn on a wider range of influences than her country music peers. She indulges those influences with wholehearted gusto on “Sing: Chapter I.”

Concentrating on covers of classic material the big-voiced Kentucky native sweeps from Depression-era swing to bawdy blues to elegant pop to Stones-style rock ’n’ roll. She also tosses in a few country standards, adding modern atmosphere to Hank Williams’ aching “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and nailing the emotional complexity of Tammy Wynette’s great “Till I Get It Right.”

With her voice as burnished and fully toned as ever, Wynonna would be expected to shine on such ballads as “Anyone Who Had A Heart” and “When I Fall In Love” — and she does. But what might surprise those who know her for sharing tears with Oprah on daytime TV is how uninhibited she sounds on the bluesy “I’m A Woman” and how much swagger she brings to the party on “The House Is Rockin”’ and “I Hear You Knockin’.”

Wynonna has never paid attention to boundaries anyway, and as always, she’s all the better for it.

—Michael McCall, Associated Press

‘Feel That Fire’

Dierks Bentley (Capitol Nashville)

Grade: B

Few contemporary country stars rock as ferociously as Dierks Bentley, as he proves on “Life On The Run,” the introductory song of the singer’s fifth album, “Feel That Fire.”

Bentley recruited Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready to play on the tune, and he opens the album with a slide guitar run that sounds like a motorcycle revving its engine. No other country star out today could pull off such wildly diverse arrangements and sound so authentic — and so engaging.

The tension between rock’s restless freedom and country’s time-honored values emerges in Bentley’s songwriting, too. The songs on “Feel That Fire” vary from spirited party anthem “Sideways” to steamy romanticism of “I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes” to spiritual reckoning on “Better Believer.” Bentley manages to make them all ring true.

What Bentley smartly avoids is the middle-of-the-road pop so many other young country singers rely on to reach a radio audience.

Bentley is more progressively modern and more grounded in tradition than most of his young peers; it’s why “Feel That Fire” will continue to make him one of the few country performers who score well with both fans and critics.

—Michael McCall, Associated Press

‘The Fray’

The Fray (Epic)

Grade: C

The Fray became leftfield successes in 2006 on the strength of their piano-driven, TV-approved sad-sack sing-alongs “Over My Head (Cable Car)” and “How to Save a Life.”

Was it Isaac Slade’s mournful vocals that made the Denver quartet a success? Was it good marketing? Was it the “Grey’s Anatomy” tie-in? No one could be sure.

So for their follow-up, The Fray simply did the same thing all over again. “The Fray” (Epic) is, on paper, zero-risk music making. They took the pieces that worked on their debut and re-created them for the sophomore album.

As the first single, “You Found Me,” has proved, you know exactly how this album is going to sound — the same as the last one. Sure, words change here and there and some songs are slightly faster than midtempo and some are slightly slower, but that’s about it.

“Syndicate” is “Absolute” is “Never Say Never” is “Where the Story Ends” is same as it ever was. Slade sings essentially the same notes in essentially the same order with essentially the same phrasing and delivery, over and over again. Guitar flourishes generally come in the same places, as do the tempo upticks from the drummer.

It’s not a bad sound, but it’s also not a necessary one. The conservative songs of “The Fray” try to shut out the possibility of messing up, but they end up shutting out the possibility of succeeding as well.

—Glenn Gamboa, Newsday

‘Love Hate and Then There’s You’

The Von Bondies (Majordomo Records)

Grade: C

There are five things that have held the Von Bondies back from truly capitalizing on the band’s pop-savvy garage swagger: the fingers on Jack White’s punching fist.

After Bondies singer Jason Stollsteimer was on the losing end of a nasty scuffle with White in 2004, the band never really recovered in the public eye. Which is a bit of a shame, because although its latest album, “Love Hate and Then There’s You,” is a stereotypical dilution of the Stooges/MC5 canon, there are a few unexpectedly tight tunes that hit as hard as, well, a sock in eye.

The album owes as much to producer Butch Walker’s immaculate pop ear as any Bondie, and the immediacy of cuts such as “21st Birthday” and “Blame Game” proves that good rock music usually benefits from expert second opinions.

The album isn’t quite dangerous enough for the committed El Camino and drainpipe-jeans set though. And this is a terrible time to be making a comeback album.

“Love” likely won’t beat those odds.

—August Brown, Los Angeles Times