Mojave

Concrete Blonde’s newest album "Mojave" provides a musical postcard from the edge of civilization, where lonely strips of asphalt wind their way through the coyote's backyard. Now the denizens of the desert, singer/bassist Johnette Napolitano, guitarist Jim Mankey, and drummer Gabriel Ramirez, provide a soundtrack to the scenic Southwest. The desert's strange beauty is reflected throughout "Mojave," from the shadowy, bass-driven opening track "A Road" to the sprawling soundscapes and ghostly vocals of "My Tornado At Rest." Spirit animals come crawling out of the arid night, with reptiles shedding skin in "Snakes" and Johnette explaining the mysterious desert dogs on "Hey Coyote." The specter-like quality of the desert's night sky is also captured in a haunting cover of "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky," the old Western chestnut re-popularized by Southern rockers The Outlaws in the early '80s.