The Works (Jonatha Brooke album)
The Works, Jonatha Brooke's seventh solo release, is a full-length album primarily of previously unheard lyrics by Woody Guthrie, set to original music written and performed by Brooke.[1] Brooke was invited by Guthrie's daughter Nora to sift through the private archives and hunt through Guthrie's unreleased material for possible adaptations.[2] Brooke said she was "smitten" with Guthrie's work and going through it was like "going to church."[3] She liked his poetic love songs like "My Sweet and Bitter Bowl" and spiritual deeper tunes like "My Battle"[3] and loved Guthrie's "full spectrum of craziness" as she described his writings. The album also includes two songs fully written by Brooke.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
Robert Christgau | A-[5] |
PopMatters | [6] |
The Works | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | August 29, 2008 | |||
Genre | folk-rock | |||
Label | Bad Dog Records | |||
Producer | Jonatha Brooke, Bob Clearmountain | |||
Jonatha Brooke chronology | ||||
|
Track listing
All songs written by Woody Guthrie (lyrics) and Jonatha Brooke (music), except where indicated.
- "My Sweet and Bitter Bowl"
- "You'd Oughta Be Satisfied Now"
- "All You Gotta Do Is Touch Me"
- "My Flowers Grow Green"
- "Madonna on the Curb"
- "There's More True Lovers Than One"
- "Sweetest Angel"
- "My Battle"
- "Little Bird" (lyrics by Jonatha Brooke)
- "Taste of Danger" (lyrics by Jonatha Brooke)
- "New Star"
- "Coney Island Intro"
- "King of My Love"
Album credits
- Jonatha Brooke – vocals, guitar
- Steve Gadd – drums
- Greg Leisz – steel guitar
- Christian McBride – bass guitar
- Joe Sample – keyboard
- Additional musicians
- Eric Bazilian – vocals on "There's More True Lovers Than One"
- Keb Mo – vocals on "All you Gotta Do Is Touch Me"
- Glen Phillips – vocals on "Sweetest Angel"
- Derek Trucks – slide guitar on "New Star"
See also
- Woody Guthrie Foundation
- Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue, (1998/2012)
- The Klezmatics - Wonderwheel, (2006)
- Jay Farrar - New Multitudes, (2012)
References
- Linda Laban (August 26, 2008). "'The Works' mostly works". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
- "The outlook -- Things to do and places to go". Boston Globe. November 17, 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
- "Jonatha Brooke: Rediscovering Woody Guthrie". National Public Radio (interview) Weekend Edition Sunday. November 16, 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
- Jeff Tamarkin. "AllMusic review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
- Robert Christgau. "Robert Christgau review". Retrieved 2020-01-13.
- Michael Metivier (2008-10-20). "Popmatters review". Popmatters. Retrieved 2020-01-13.