It's appropriate that soul singer Barrence Whitfield has his mouth wide open and folkie Tom Russell has his closed in the cover photos of both this album and its follow-up, Cowboy Mambo. Throughout each disk, Whitfield holds the spotlight; Russell joins in the fun and also contributes some songs, but his main role seems to be as producer and fan: he clearly loves Whitfield's music and seems determined to help popularize it. And no wonder -- Whitfield's music is terrific stuff. If you had to slap a label on him, it would be country-soul singer, but he's soaked up far too many influences and turned them into something far too special for that tag to do him justice. The material -- alternately playful and emotional -- is uniformly first-rate, with highlights including Lucinda Williams' "I Just Want to See You So Bad," and Bob Dylan's "Blind Willie McTell," Van Morrison's "Cleaning Windows," Jesse Winchester's "Mississippi, You're On My Mind," and Russell's own "The Cuban Sandwich."

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Long Black Train
2. The Cuban Sandwich
3. Jack Johnson
4. I Just Want to See You So Bad
5. You Can't Get That Stuff No More
6. Blind Willie McTell
7. Ice Water
8. The Definition of a Fool
9. Chocolate Cigarettes
10. What Is the Color of the Soul of a Man?
11. Mississippi You're on My Mind
12. Cleaning Windows