Buddy Miller - 'Universal United House Of Prayer'

Buddy Miller's new CD was released this week, and I can tell you with no doubt it is his finest record. Not that any of his previous solo albums were anything short of fantastic, but UUHoP is his first to include a song cycle that hangs together perfectly. Including three carefully chosen covers and host of thematically similar co-writes (four with wife Julie Miller), this is Buddy's first fully gospel album (say it loud and proud) and prominently features vocals from Regina and Ana McCrary (daughters of The Fairfield Four's Sam McCrary). He is backed by his usual cast of supporting players, including stellar drumming from Brady Blade and Bryan Owings, and, of course, harmonies from Emmylou Harris and Julie Miller.

But before you pass this record out to your Sunday school class, heed this warning: the "gospel" according to Buddy Miller is broad enough to include the hand-wringing of the late, great Mark Heard ("Worry Too Much") and the probing questioning of Bob Dylan's "With God On Our Side." These two are the only songs on the record that cut toward the political, and the latter does so brilliantly by offering a nine-minute counterpunch to those who would like to use "holy" and "war" in the same sentence. Elsewhere, "This Old World" (co-written with Victoria Williams) dares to indict blind capitalism with liberal New Testament notions ("You can't worship money and God"). Happily, however, he has let the music do the talking, and eschews the kind of blunt, easy blows that some artists feel compelled to throw nowadays (with all due respect, Steve Earle).
http://www.villagerecords.com/product.tpl?action=full&cart=10960373383921675&--eqskudatarq=N040935

There is an intriguing article about Buddy in the Village Voice this week. I'm not sure what Christgau is driving at in the last paragraph, but I never know quite what is going on inside Christgau's head.
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0438/christgau.php