Various Artists: The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams

"Williams, who [died at] only twenty-nine, left behind notebooks filled with scribbled lyrics. Decades later, the notebooks were entrusted to Bob Dylan with the idea that he might turn them into songs. ... Dylan sings just one song, 'The Love That Faded,' and it has an archetypal Williams lyric, melancholy verging on maudlin, with terrific poetic compression: 'Brown eyes, blue eyes, they're all the same / None are for me, I've lost this game.' For the rest, he assembled a roster that includes Lucinda Williams (affecting without being affected on 'I'm So Happy I Found You'), Jack White (who turns in a taut, accusatory performance on 'You Know That I Know'), and Norah Jones (blue and angelic on 'How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart'). ... The musical settings provided by the artists are familiar, mid-tempo melodies flavored with fiddle or steel guitar. ... It's hard to pick a standout, but Alan Jackson ('You've Been Lonesome, Too') and Levon Helm ('You'll Never Again Be Mine') come closest" (Ben Greenman, "Pop Notes," New Yorker, 10/10/11).
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