The Ringmaster General (2012)

Dave Stewart is best known as the other half of Annie Lennox's Eurythmics. At the onset of MTV and the video age, Stewart wasn't as photogenic as his artistic foil. He still knows this, so he enlists the help of Diane Birch, Alison Krauss and Joss Stone to give his music a recognizable voice. Stewart himself sings in a low rumble that's powerful but too dark for commercial outlets and this solo album is clearly meant to reach a wide audience. The production is top notch and played and arranged so tightly that you can hear why others have required his services for decades. Like its predecessor, 2011's The Blackbird Diaries, The Ringmaster General was written and recorded in five days at his Blackbird Studios in Nashville, with a solid band of pros backing his every step. Joss Stone tears up "I Got Love." Diane Birch toys with Stewart on "Just Another Fall" and Alison Krauss adds her solemn harmonies to "Drowning In the Blues." Stewart handles himself well alone on "A Different Man Now" and with a group of backing vocalists on his celebration of his new home, "A New Song For Nashville."