Continuing to go her own way on
Gospel Plow,
Elizabeth Cook is another artist who's too rock for country and too country for rock, although in the music business climate of 2012 she may be too country for country, too. As you might expect from the title of this mini-album,
Gospel Plow is a record of sacred music, although it's marked by
Cook's own inimitable mix of styles and features at least one track that will surprise almost any country fan, not matter how alt. The songs are mostly familiar, although the arrangements are anything but. This is not your grandma's kind of gospel music by any means. "If I Had My Way," a
Blind Willie Johnson song that was a hit for
Peter, Paul and Mary during the folk scare, is given a stark stomping arrangement featuring
Bones Hillman's thumping acoustic bass,
Tim Carroll's muted electric guitar, and
Cook's wailing vocals. "Gospel Plow" is a cross of bluegrass and rock featuring
Carroll's clanging
Creedence-style guitar; "Hear Jerusalem Calling" sounds like
Johnny Cash in a storefront honky tonk church; and
Cook turns in a particularly soulful vocal on a dark, moody arrangement of "These Men of God." The oddest -- and in some sense the most sanctified -- track is a cover of
Lou Reed's "Jesus," given a subtle, smoky reading that's halfway between
the Velvet Underground and
Gillian Welch.