Album Review: Bruce Cockburn’s ‘The Blood of Others’

A peripatetic singer and songwriter, Canadian troubadour Bruce Cockburn continues to explore fresh musical territory on his 39th album, ‘The Blood of Others.’ On the album, he offers a bit of a retrospective on his career, performing songs written by other artists that have shaped his musical landscape. Moving from the blues to ragtime to pop standards to the spirituals, Cockburn captures the emotional resonance of each song in spare treatments that feature only his gritty vocals sung over his ringing guitar picking and strumming.

Bright circling fingerpicking lie underneath the reverberating gospel blues of Robert Wilkins’ “Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down.” Cockburn’s spacious vocals and richly reverberating jazz arpeggios capture the ache of yearning in Howard Hupfeld’s “As Time Goes By”; Cockburn includes his own updating of the song’s preamble.

With growling vocals sung over swaying ragtime guitar, Cockburn delivers his striding version of “Buddy Bolden’s Blues,” while Cockburn’s sunny strolling take on Mississippi John Hurt’s “Lousi Collins” belies the song’s dark themes of murder and death.

Tenderly rendered, “Fare Thee Well” evokes the almost mournful pining of a woman whose lover has deserted her, while shimmering strums flow under the slowly unfolding pop standard “I’ll Be Seeing You.”

Cockburn’s echoing take on Ian and Sylvia’s “Four Strong Winds” captures the song’s deep longing, while he offers a jaunty, swinging version of the Elvis Presley hit “That’s All Right” (written by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup). The album closes with a benediction: an uplifting and atmospheric version of the gospel standard “Peace in the Valley.”

‘The Blood of Others’ is a gem of an album, as Cockburn shares many of his many musical influences by offering innovative takes on these songs even within their traditional structures.