Tom Paxton
reunites with one-time collaborator
Anne Hills
for this album of largely
political folk
, which includes such evergreens as
"Carry It On,"
"Birmingham Sunday"
(about the racially motivated 1963 church bombing),
"God Bless the Grass,"
and
Paxton
's own
"Clarissa Jones."
Also on the program are a few later compositions, most notably
Tom Russell
's
"Manzanar,"
about the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and the title cut, a comment on the death penalty that represents the album's only songwriting collaboration by
Hills
. The singing is impeccable and the songs are first-rate, but the performances are mostly so faithful to the originals that they don't add much. In addition, while the social commentary is balanced by an occasional love song, it would have helped to also sprinkle in some of the humor that
employs so well on his solo albums; as is, this is pretty consistently somber stuff. Still,
deserve plaudits for helping to keep the
genre alive; it's too bad that more writers aren't addressing the sorts of issues tackled here. ~ Jeff Burger