Baton

Here is a double shot of hyphenated-name, late French Romantic trios for violin, cello, and piano: the Trio in A minor of Joseph Guy Ropartz (who later went as Guy-Ropartz) and the Trio Op. 31 of (René-Emmanuel) "Rhené"-Baton. Ropartz was a long-lived disciple of d'Indy of whom conventional wisdom states waited until World War II before abandoning his post-Franckian idiom in favor of a more up-to-date neo-classic style.

The debut release for the second-generation bayou blues guitarist/harpist, whose gruff-before-their-time vocals retain their swamp sensibility while assuming a bright contemporary feel that tabs him as a leading contender for future blues stardom.