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Same Petty, different sound

By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 5, 2008 at 6 p.m.

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Mudcrutch

Mudcrutch

Warner Bros. Records

Grade: A-

Fans familiar with Tom Petty's early band Mudcrutch know two things: One, Depot Street, the lone single the original band released, isn't very good. And two, with a core of Petty, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, how different can it sound from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers?

Different enough. It's not a radical departure, but the additions of Tom Leadon (brother of Eagles founder Bernie) and Randall Marsh push the band to follow Petty's more Southern/country influences (Crystal River) as well as old-time rock 'n' roll (This Is a Good Street).

Petty's a Florida boy, but the Gainesville area from which he hails is really more like southern Georgia than northern Florida. The Mudcrutch reunion gives him an excuse to revisit those Southern rock sounds and to write songs such as Lover of the Bayou.

Only a few songs, such as The Wrong Thing to Do and Bootleg Flyer, sound like outtakes from a normal Petty album, with Campbell's charging guitar and Tench's keyboards setting the tone. That's not a bad thing, just not the norm on this project. Tench is better used when his piano sets a relaxed tone on the folksy House of Stone, complemented neatly by Leadon's mandolin. Leadon also weighs in on vocals with a duet on Shady Grove, clearly mapping the country-rock direction the original band could have taken.

Overall it's a surprisingly solid 14 songs, sounding much more natural than other Petty side projects. Currently Petty is doing a mini-tour of small clubs with the band, saving his major touring for the Heartbreakers' summer outing. A national run of live Mudcrutch shows in bigger venues would be most welcome.

Otis Taylor and guests

Recapturing the Banjo

Telarc Records

Grade: A-

Boulder bluesman Otis Taylor's two passions are music and history, so Recapturing the Banjo is the perfect project for him. The banjo, long associated with country music, actually has its roots in Africa and came to the U.S. when slaves were taken from their homes.

Taylor collects ancient versions of the five-string instrument. To recapture its roots he teamed up with other fine pickers, including Alvin Youngblood Hart and Keb' Mo', for an album of banjo- based blues that sounds far, far away from anything coming out of Nashville.

It's a blues, folk and rock mix; a raw version of the classic Hey Joe features banjo but also a gritty electric guitar as Taylor growls the verses. Taylor's original Ten Million Slaves takes the same tack as it tells the tales of slaves crossing the ocean, daughter Cassie adding tasteful harmony vocals: "Don't know where / where they're going / don't know where / where they've been."

It ends with The Way It Goes, a spare Keb' Mo' tune and vocal: "When you get there, you get there / and that's the way it goes." Recapturing the Banjo is an important project, but Taylor makes it heartfelt and even fun at times.

Taylor and his band play the D-Note (7519 Grandview Ave., Arvada) at 8 p.m. Friday, $12. Information: 303-463-6683 or go online dnote.us

Other new CDs this week

* Clay Aiken: On My Way Here

* Neil Diamond: Home Before Dark

* Elvis Costello: Momofuku

Next week

* Death Cab for Cutie: Narrow Stairs

* Duffy: Rockferry

* Jason Mraz: We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things

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