Joe Henry - Civilians

If an artist can be judged by the company he keeps, Joe Henry gets top marks. He has produced artists as diverse and accomplished as Ani DiFranco, Aimee Mann, Solomon Burke, Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint. Along the way, Henry’s own albums have grown increasingly dark and sophisticated. His latest is no exception. Numbers like “Civil War,” featuring the nostalgic piano of Van Dyke Parks, and “Our Song,” about meeting a disenchanted Willie Mays in Home Depot, are haunting elegies to America.

Sept. 11