Less a conventional tribute album and more a curated survey of the extraordinary songwriting partnership of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan. Part of Ace Records ongoing Songwriters Series that offers an overview of a very specific artistic vision and personality. Rather than commissioning new recordings, Ace Records has assembled 19 previously released interpretations drawn from across four decades of popular music, creating a portrait of how deeply Waits and Brennan’s songs have permeated rock, country, jazz, folk and gospel.
The collection opens with Bruce Springsteen’s celebrated live version of “Jersey Girl,” recorded at the Meadowlands in 1981 and immortalised on Live/1975–85, before moving through standout cuts such as the Ramones’ punk-infused “I Don’t Want To Grow Up” from their twelfth and final studio album ¡Adios Amigos!, Johnny Cash’s haunting “Down There By The Train” from his first American Recordings, and Willie Nelson’s tender “Picture In A Frame” from The Great Divide. Elsewhere, Diana Krall’s smoky “Temptation” revisits her The Girl In The Other Room album, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant’s “Trampled Rose” comes from the Grammy-winning Raising Sand, and John Hammond’s “2:19” is lifted from his acclaimed all-Waits collection Wicked Grin.
While dedicated fans will already own many of these recordings, the compilation’s strength lies in bringing them together in one place. Heard sequentially, the songs reveal the remarkable flexibility of the Waits/Brennan catalogue and serves as both an accessible introduction for newcomers and a compelling reminder that some of the finest Tom Waits records were made by other artists.
Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow is available now from Ace Records