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A Stranger Here Image
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

  • Summary: Joe Henry produced the Grammy-winning folk singer's second album for the Anti- label.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Here the folk legend rings in the new with songs from the old, sensitively produced by Joe Henry.
  2. This is not so much a reinvention as another way to look deep into the heart of Elliott's music. It's also an early nominee for folk album of the year.
  3. Filter
    84
    Ramblin' Jack Elliott has teamed up with producer Joe Henry to deliver a starkly dimensional and soulful collection of dark blues. [Winter 2009, p.94]
  4. Elliott brings a seen-it-all authenticity to this repertoire while Joe Henry's sympathetic production (aided by guest appearances by Los Lobos' David Hidalgo and Van Dyke Parks) is pitch perfect.
  5. 80
    Elliott is better at world-weariness than he is at sass, but has enough guile to mould the songs in his own image.
  6. Although it contains some fine backing musicians here, notably Van Dyke Parks and Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo, Henry uses them to accent Elliott’s unique sound rather than to accompany him.
  7. Q Magazine
    60
    Now in his 78th year, all that know-how has been meaningfully brought to bear on this collection of vintage, Depression-era blues. [May 20009, p.112]

See all 11 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. MusicMaster
    Apr 25, 2009
    10
    Scary as hell blues soundtrack to the apocalypse.

Awards & Rankings