Clean Getaway

Call this the album that almost never was. In 2006 was diagnosed with liver cancer and given eight months to live unless he underwent a half-million-dollar operation. The money was raised from benefits by friends of such as , , and , and donations from fans. After the successful transplant, the cancer spread to his lungs, requiring yet another operation. On his first post-cancer release, anyone not knowing what he went through would be astonished that he could come out of the ordeal sounding this healthy. enlisted members of and drummer/producer to handle the backing, and the combination is a natural extension of the soul-blues stew the singer/harpist has been cooking up since his first solo album in 1991. It takes confidence in your vocal abilities to cover tunes sung by ( ), ), and ), but is up to the challenge and turns in striking performances that do justice to -- or, in the case of the tune, improve on -- the originals. Elsewhere, wades in the rocking swamp blues of shifts into funk-soul mode for the title track, and heads to Memphis for the -styled the latter one of four originals co-written by . There's more than a little to his raspy voice, which he uses to terrific effect on the moody, obsessive The rollicking tune is a perfect vehicle for 's soul shake, and gives him a chance to blow some tough harp. Blues looms large in his catalog of influences, and pays tribute to one of the genre's icons in with lyrics comprised predominantly of song titles. It sounds corny, but he pulls it off due to his obvious sincerity and by playing it straight. The connection with is both natural and inspired as they lay into this material but never steal the spotlight from , who sounds enthused and, well, glad to be alive. Comebacks don't get much sweeter. ~ Hal Horowitz