This two cd set showcases the slide guitar wizardry of North Mississippi legend Kenny Brown. The "Porch Songs" disc, literally recorded on Brown's porch (listen carefully and you can hear, at the start of one track, a dog's deep woof), is full of rich, precise acoustic guitar playing (and a few lap steel overdubs). While the songs are covers, Brown sings them as if he's lived their stories, which is particularly notable when he reaches back to “World War I.” The playing here is warm and intimate, and the disc rewards close listening.

“Money Maker” is another matter entirely. In this live set recorded at the 2010 North Mississippi Hill Country picnic, Brown and his band and a few guests (Luther Dickinson, Duwayne Burnside) set the house on fire. The cd rocks hard from start to finish, from “Skinny Woman” to “Dr. Brown” all the way to a romping “If Walls Could Talk.” If “Porch Songs” is for quiet times or solitary listening, “Money Maker” is a party in a box (or a cardboard sleeve, at least). If you can’t get to Mississippi or Louisiana to hear Kenny Brown and the band, this is the next best thing.
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