Rating: NN
It’s a pleasant gesture that celebrities like Elton John, Steve Martin, Sting, Paul Schaeffer, Melissa Etheridge and others have collaborated on songs with bluegrass banjo great Earl Scruggs, but exactly who this CD is aimed at is unclear. Throughout, Scruggs’s picking is unfortunately relegated to a rhythm feature, and is often buried in the mix. Is the world waiting to hear Billy Bob Thornton recite Ring Of Fire? I think not, but it’s good for laughs. Better still is hearing Sir Elton going for that down-home feel on Country Comfort, hilariously trying to sensitively convey Bernie Taupin’s lyrics about fixing barns and cooking hedgehogs. That’s comedy.
