Chris Whitley "Dirt Floor" (Messenger)
This low-tech homer has got a two-track tape machine and a microphone.
Whitley's vocal quality and tripped-out lyrics on "Scrapyard Lullaby" can
only be described as a butterscotch.  With but a steel dobro, banjo and a
stomping foot for a drummer, "Indian Summer" makes you wonder if Jimi
Hendrix and Robert Johnson ever got it on.  That said, thanks to Craig
Street's spartan production (late of Cassandra Wilson and k.d. lang) you
can file "Dirt Floor" under a bin card that reads "Great Mellow Sex
Record."  Maybe one day, I'll get to test it out.