Dylan Travelin

Live Bullet introduced Bob Seger to a wide audience, revealing a rocker of unbridled passion and a songwriter of considerable talent. Prior to its release, Seger had been toiling away, releasing seven albums and touring constantly ever since his debut scraped the national consciousness in 1968…

As its title implies, this is a spiritually based collaboration from three distinct – even disparate – yet surprisingly harmonious voices. Mostly, but not entirely acoustic, the trio of rootsy singers trade lead vocals on smooth jazz/blues ("Bessie's Dream"), folk-blues ("Good Stuff"), Delta blues ("Rolling Log"), gospel (an a cappella version of Sister Rosetta Tharpe's "Rock Daniel"), and combinations of those genres. On paper it sounds scattershot, but in actuality this is a thoughtfully paced combination of styles, united by three affecting voices. Eric Bibb's smoother Keb' Mo' approach meshes surprisingly well with Rory Block's more penetrating Delta croon and Maria Muldaur's sassy, sexy, throaty growl.

The Dixie Chicks were indeed on top of the world when they launched their supporting tour for their chart-topping 2002 album, Home. As the tour rolled on, they stepped into some controversy, as lead singer Natalie Maines claimed during the buildup to the 2003 Iraq War that the trio was ashamed to be from the same state as President George W. Bush, leading to a prolonged talk radio-fueled media firestorm that hurt their image within country, even as it didn't diminish their sales.

There are some box sets that seem like overkill, beyond the pale for all but the very most hardcore fans, and others - a little more obvious in their justification - that never achieve much currency beyond the ranks of the serious fans and as easy Christmas ideas for their relatives. And then there are the ones that, based on the sheer credibility of the artists involved - Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra - become practically standard-issue for any serious music listener; you expect to find at least one, and more likely two of them on a lot of shelves. The Classic Years 1927-1940 ought to fit into the latter category, despite the fact that Blind Willie McTell never had a hit record in a recording career lasting nearly 30 years - he also didn't make Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of the twentieth century, even though he could play circles about three-fourths of those who did…