If Joe Henry has made a bad album, I haven't heard it yet. That said, his career is pretty easily divided into two eras, the first where the developing singer-songwriter offered the standard slate of folk and country-laced albums, the latter where he took a hard left turn and started sonic explorations that continue to push into new territory.

The first era culminated in the release of Kindness of the World, Henry's fifth disc. Like its predecessor, Short Man's Wedding, the disc represented the high water mark of this sound. Henry seemed to sense this, for the follow-up, Trampoline, found him investigating new textures and tempos. It is clearly a transitional record. Fuse, his next record, saw Henry seemingly trying everything he could, capitalizing on the freedom he had discovered on Trampoline. The result is probably Henry's least-satisfying disc, though it is not without its merits.

It was on his eighth disc, Scar, however, that Henry found his new voice. While keeping all of the storytelling and melodicism of his earlier work, it showed that he had discovered a new, startlingly satisfying way to present himself. The disc blends off-kilter rhythms, dark, minimalist playing and wealth of top-flight guests, all giving full-flower to an adventurous set of songs. The result is his best album, and the one that fully captures Henry's capabilities.

It begins with the opening creep of "Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation," a song that is lifted to the heavens by a perfect saxophone solo from jazz giant Ornette Coleman. Along the way you get "Stop," a song that Henry's sister-in-law, Madonna, turned into the hit "Don't Tell Me," the playful "Rough and Tumble" and the searing ballad "Mean Flower." He is joined throughout by a stellar cast, including pianist Brad Mehldau, guitarist Marc Ribot and drummer Brian Blade.

Perhaps only Tom Waits can be seen as a precedent for a songwriter to grow so much as a performer over the course of his career. The only sad thing at this point is that Henry is so busy producing others -- Solomon Burke and Bettye LaVette among them -- that he hasn't released a disc of his own since Scar's follow-up, 2003's Tiny Voices.

MP3: Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation
MP3: Stop

Next week: The Name of This Band is Talking Heads

Labels: music, OOTS