ENDLESS HIGHWAY: THE MUSIC OF THE BAND - VARIOUS ARTISTS
My Morning Jacket so utterly conquers “It Makes No Difference,” whipping it into an enrapturing, heart-jarring, sax- and organ-laced epic, it kind of makes you feel sorry for the other 16 artists on this tribute to iconic roots-rock innovator the Band. At disc’s end, not even relative unknown Steve Reynolds’ worthy take on “Stage Fright,” Widespread Panic’s skillet-hot revival of “Chest Fever” or the Allman Brothers’ smart, dignified cover of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” are in the same league. It’s maybe the only song on the disc that would impress the Band itself. Featuring the likes of Death Cab for Cutie and Blues Traveler, Gomez and Rosanne Cash, “Endless Highway” is sadly mediocre otherwise, and bogged down by disappointingly safe covers like Lee Ann Womack’s carbon copy of “The Weight” and Jack Johnson’s listless “I Shall Be Released.” Billboard
