In 1948 Leo Fender and "Doc" Kaufmann invented the Telecaster electric guitar. A slab of wood with some magnetic pickups, it remains one of our most expressive musical tools. Guitarists from Roy Buchanan to Jeff Beck to Robbie Robertson have wrenched from it a wide range of pure emotion--from whispers of love to screams of anguish. Tele-wrangler Jim Campilongo has fit easily into this august company for some time now. On this record he once again exhibits a combination of aggressive squalling, sharp wit, sensitive melodicism, quirkiness, and compositional skill, all with using a musical language that is uniquely his own. Norah Jones, who has run in the same musician circles of New York, helps out on the country standard "Sweet Dreams" and the aching waltz "Stella." Whether conjuring up feline sounds in "Cat Under a Car" or wry regret in "Bought Some Swampland in Florida," Campilongo has mastered the rare art of telling stories without words--so much so that the addition of Jones's poignant vocal to "Stella" seems almost an afterthought. --Michael Ross
