- Jolie Holland's fifth album is as loose and dusty as any of them and sees her winding her idiosyncratic path through modern Americana like an alcoholic - her songs of weariness and disappointment are the sad tales she'll determinedly relate to you if you happen ot be plonked down by her at the bar. A lot of great singer-songwriters go to Anti to, uh, die... you listen to these late records by great voices of 20th century Americana and hear occasional snatches of former glory, slowly fading. I quite liked that analogy for Jolie and certainly her creaky voice and beat-up attitude fit it to a tea, but there's still a wit to her words and enough vinegar in her veins to pump out many a record yet and of course she isn't 75. I've chosen her cover of Townes Van Zandt's Rex's Blues to play you which brings to a hard luck life a magnanimous quality that is fit to draw tears. Sometimes being alone and low as you can be is a beautiful thing.