Interesting times we live in...coming off the questions asked in this past election, and for me, coming off enough travel around the United States this year for an eyes wide open assessment of how America is doing. Now I know about the rust belt, and white flight, and regentrification, and center cities trying to bring people back to work, shop and play. But there is fear creeping around every corner these days. There are storefronts empty in places one wouldn't expect, like Telluride. There are new ghost towns forming when business gets closed down, and outsourced to another shore. And the debt, the debt just keeps growing. One would hope some sanity ensues, that someone just might heroically swoop in with a plan to fix the mess that isn't draconian, and that society can still function. One can wish! We are in the midst of a seismic shift. Fasten your seatbelt!

Elvis Costello's second CD working with T Bone Burnett is called National Ransom. It was recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles over an 11 day period earlier this year. It just hit the street a few weeks back, and features contributions from The Imposters and The Sugarcanes, along with Vince Gill, Marc Ribot, Buddy Miller and Leon Russell. There is a wonderful short film about the making of the record online at his website, just click on the "Flick-a-Tron" header. I think it's great that Elvis gets to make different sounding records, different moods to explore, with different statements to make. Here is one, "National Ransom," the title track, recorded at WNYC in New York.

- Jessie Scott