The Long Surrender

There may be no more soothing voice in music than Karin Bergquist’s. She could be interpreting jazz standards, but fortunately she applies that balm to her and husband Linford Detweiler’s beautifully languid originals, which invoke hard times and celebrate the survival of the least fit. Producer Joe Henry (Solomon Burke, Bettye LaVette) well understands that quiet doesn’t equal dull, and when a Lucinda Williams duet isn’t even The Long Surrender‘s high point, things have gone very right. A