Rating: NNN
Completed two years ago and then lost in record-label limbo, Ron Sexsmith’s Blue Boy deserves better. After a string of sonically adventurous but still fairly predictable Mitchell Froom-produced albums, Steve Earle’s juiced-up direction is a welcome turn. The weight of the world hasn’t exactly been lifted from Sexsmith’s shoulders, but Earle does slap some life into the songs, pushing horns up front, playing with tempos, dragging up a ska beat and tossing out the session drummers to make room for the inventive stomp of Don Kerr. It isn’t a major change in tack, but it is about as different a Ron Sexsmith album as you’re going to get.
