the village voice

Start with her snaking, spooky take on "New York, New York," which takes the popular version's beaming optimism and puts an ironic spin on it: The languid keys and Marshall's stuporous drawl are more suggestive of Ratso Rizzo than Old Blue Eyes. This lived-in-bars mood persists. Hank Williams's "Ramblin' Man" gets a narcotic rendering driven by ghostly organ chords and a moaning slide guitar; Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain" is heavier than a boxcar. George Jackson's "Aretha, Sing One for Me," is upbeat by comparison, with Marshall's Dirty Delta Blues Band digging in like the pros they are, but even it can't shake the depressive barroom vibe of the proceedings.