in the heart of a recreational area, Rhythm & Roots, though admittedly smaller in every way, attracts a signicant percentage

of transient, walkup trafcit drew patrons from 35 states last year. The fans at R&R may be a bit older35 and upand a little more afuent than Grey Fox, but in no way less knowledgeable or hardcore about the music. Fans spend time and money in Rhythm & Roots wellorganized merch tent where performers graciously sign, and at the food vendors, which offer particularly tasty Cajun dishes, BBQ and homemade pies. Kids and their shorter attention spans hang out at a tent where they enthusiastically play low-tech games and learn traditional skills like juggling. Wentworth constructs the R&R lineup carefully, balancing headliners against triedand-true performers, mixing in recurring R&R favorites and sprinkling in new talent hes scouted during the year for a total of eight acts each day. Last years headliners included Raul Malo, Richard Thompson, Steve Earle, 7 Walkers (Bill Kreutzman, Papa Mali, George Porter, Jr., et al.), Marcia Ball and Delbert McClinton. Mainstays like Geoff Muldaur and Jim Kweskin perform on the main stage as well as the intimate Workshop Tent; Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys regularly treat loyal fans. The highlight for me in 2011 was Sarah and The Tall Boys, an up-and coming, high-energy group featuring a country/ blues frontwoman with a formidable voice. Besides surviving, Wentworths best moments were personal: hanging with his 12-year-old grandson Drew Tedeschi, and Mary whispering, This was the best one ever.

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my Winehouses Lioness: Hidden Treasures offers a jagged patchwork of originals, covers, and skeletons of newer material which chronicle Winehouses rise and fall through one constant in her short life: her music. The compilation begins with a ska-reggae version of Ruby and the Romantics 1963 Number One hit, Our Day Will Come, in which Winehouses voice sways strong through the horns and guitar upstrokes. Between the Cheats was intended for her third album, and judging by the dreamy doo-wop male backing vocals, Winehouse planned on sticking to what became her signature sound: modern Motown with an edge. Its hard to tell which is more jarring: the scratchy rasp in Winehouses vocals or the achingly honest tale of cheating, abusive lovers: I would die before I divorce ya/Id take a thousand thumps for my love. The covers of past hits like Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? and Valerie prove that Winehouse was just as comfortable with doo wop as her hip hop-avored tracks like Like Smoke (featuring Nas). In the albums liner notes, Salaam Remi, who produced Winehouses debut, remembers when he met Winehouse in 2002. As she sat down I asked her So what do you want to do, where are you going to be? She picked up her guitar and sang Girl From Ipanema and lit up my whole studio. The song has the same effect on Lioness. Winehouses death last summer was tragic, not just because of her agejust 27but because the world watched her struggle with addiction and demons for so long. Lioness is non-traditional, but so was Winehouse, and that was her appeal. The small woman with the big hair, bigger voice and sailor tattoos took traditional Motown and jazz and sang it with a bitter tongue and heart-on-her-sleeve honesty.
AMY WI N EHOU SE : B RYAN ADA MS.

EMMA HERNANDEZ

Lioness: Hidden Treasures (UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC)

Amy Winehouse

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