Bill Orcutt - All your buried corpses begin to speak

Bill Orcutt has taken his scythe-like intelligence to a number of American spirituals over the course of his career—his takes on “Nearer My God To Thee,” “Black Betty,” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” were bracing enough to make the eyes water. Odds Against Tomorrow continues the avant-garde guitarist’s exploration of American folk and blues, but it is the most settled and serene he’s ever sounded. These are original pieces—albeit ones that feel palpably haunted by the ghosts of Son House and Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson and John Fahey—and there is a nearly-autumnal melancholy in them that feels new. His only cover, of “Moon River,” has a tinkly music-box tenderness to it that might make your eyes water again, but for different reasons. —Jayson Greene