Rating: NNNN
Now that we’ve just about run out of artists worth honouring with tribute albums, it must be time to start saluting genres. Vanguard gets the ball rolling with a star-stacked homage to Cajun music involving Linda Ronstadt, John Fogerty, Richard Thompson, David Johansen, Maria McKee, Patty Griffin, Rodney Crowell and Linda Thompson mostly singing traditional tunes in Cajun French. Nick Lowe’s take on Arrêtte Pas La Musique turns out to be a knee-slapper that has a similar comical effect to Johnny Cash’s German version of Five Feet High And Rising, but everything else works amazingly well, thanks largely to the tasteful playing of the Cajun All-Stars band. McKee is the big surprise here — she could have a whole new career in Louisiana.
