Recent Faves- mid-April 2013 edition

Gotta admire Brad Paisley's wide-ranging spirit- his guest shots on his new Wheelhouse album are with Monty Python's Eric Idle and LL Cool J alongside Roger Miller and Charlie Daniels, bringing back fond memories of when Jacko would lasso in Vincent Price, Eddie Van Halen and Macca on Thriller. Also notable is BP's ongoing mission to bust up Southern stereotypes as surely as he's happy to make hash of barriers between genres.  As for the much-discussed "Accidental Racist," see LZ Granderson's savvy take on the controversy there- he's right that the song does suck but it's not because of the lyrics.

And speaking of racial barriers... I'm looking forward to 42, the Jackie Robinson bio-pic, especially after the great soundtrack album that just came out in conjunction with it, which is full of sweet country tunes, swinging jazz and howling country honky-tonk classics, basically showing you some of the building blocks of rock and roll. How could you not love a collection that includes Billie Holiday, Hank Williams, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Louis Jordan?  You can hear samples of some of it from the Watertower label website.