First Listen: Jim Lauderdale, 'London Southern'
The Americana star's new album is a celebration of the British blend of pop, R&B and rock and roll that captivated him as a young child.
We music critics often assume the moral duty of championing artists whose nominal popularity is unjustly dwarfed by their gifts. For years now, Jim Lauderdale has been a favorite cause of those who cover country, roots and bluegrass, the subject of countless righteously deployed rhetoricals: Why isn't he a bona fide country star by now? Shouldn't he be every bit as big as the singers who've recorded his songs? Doesn't he to be a has explored the disproportionate relationship between the high quality of the 60-year-old North Carolina native's singing and songwriting and the fairly modest fame he's accrued.
