Perhaps due to his reclusive nature or perhaps it was his iconoclastic vision, but Mickey Newbury slipped through the cracks. His peers--figures such as Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Townes Van Zandt--have often celebrated his genius, but his own artistic output, some 15 albums in 30 years, remains little known. Frisco Mabel Joy, his 1971 debut for Elektra, is his masterpiece: an ambitious, orchestrated concept album, a commanding vision of the American soul. Rather than picking and choosing from his vast output, this tribute addresses Newbury"s neglect by matching a mostly younger generation of singer-songwriters and alternative-country troubadours with that great Newbury album. Interpretations from the likes of Chuck Prophet, the Walkabouts, Dave Alvin, and Bob Neuwirth alternate between acoustic intimacy and lush soundscapes. Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell contributes atmospheric instrumental interludes between songs and helps bind the distinct voices into one elegiac whole. And though the song was absent from the original Frisco Mabel Joy, Kristofferson"s gruff but perceptive version of "San Francisco Mabel Joy" closes this fascinating, loving, and successful homage. --Roy Kasten