The Living and the Dead [PA] [Digipak] (CD - 2008)

Lyricist: Jolie Holland.

Personnel: Jolie Holland (vocals, whistling, guitar, harp guitar); Samantha Parton (vocals); Shahzad Ismaily (guitar, guitars, electric guitar, Moog synthesizer, bass guitar, drums, percussion); M. Ward (guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, gut-string guitar); Joel Hamilton (guitar); Garth Steel Klippert (trumpet); Colin Stetson (cornet); Rachel Blumberg, Jim White (drums).

Additional personnel: Marc Ribot (guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar); Marika Hughes (cello); Kenny Wollesen (drums); Marc Alan Johnson.

Audio Mixers: Marc Alan Goodman; Joel Hamilton .

Recording information: Blue Rooms, Portland, OR; One East, New York, NY; Strange Weather, Brooklyn, NY; Studio G, Brooklyn, NY; Trout Recording, Brooklyn, NY; Type Foundry, Portland, OR.

Photographer: Samantha Parton.

Unknown Contributor Role: Jenni Quilter.

After Jolie Holland left the Canadian alt-folk trio the Be Good Tanyas, she moved into an idiosyncratic form of modern country blues. On her fourth album, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD, Holland approaches a more traditional kind of roots rock, with echoes of Lucinda Williams, Elvis Costello, and Tom Waits. Holland's smoky, bluesy voice has rarely sounded better than in these sympathetic twang-rock settings, whether on catchy pop-rockers like the opening "Mexico City" or the stark, near-solo ballad "You Painted Yourself In." Guests include Matt Ward (She and Him) and the inimitable guitarist Marc Ribot. minimize