The Bottle Let Me Down: Songs for Bumpy Wagon Rides

Before any insurgent country diehards rush out to purchase this album, they should be forewarned: it's a collection of children's songs -- though not necessarily an album for children. In fact, the results are just twisted and subversive enough to give mom and dad some listening pleasure (assuming that mom and dad went to college in the halcyon days of Uncle Tupelo and have a subscription to No Depression magazine). There aren't only tried-and-true kid's songs on this collection -- such as Rosie Flores' wonderfully swinging "Red, Red Robin" -- there are also, believe it or not, some fine originals. Examples include Alejandro Escovedo's touching birthday tune "Sad and Dreamy (The Big 1-0)" and a song that Cornell Hurd (leader of Austin, TX, Western swing revue the Cornell Hurd Band) originally wrote for his young sons called "Don't Wipe Your Face on Your Shirt." This compilation is a lot of fun and good listening without trekking down the novelty path.