While I immensely enjoyed Shad Weathersby's previous effort Chomp Chomp, bringing his folksy funk to original, bright and breezy children's songs, I must admit feeling a bit equivocal about this latest effort for grownups. While there's certainly a definite and definitive charm to these quirky-lyricked, but no less bouncy tunes, there is a repetitiveness, a sameness to these songs, that, while quite appealing on the children's album, tends to be annoying here.

Still, there's a lot to enjoy, and not just the artist's warm, dusky, husky, cornsilk voice that soothingly evokes other cozy songsters such as Tom Waits and Scott McKenzie, with just a touch of Art Garfunkel and even the merest soupcon of Bryan Ferry. The New Orleans songs ("Scatter Our Love," "Orleans Rain" and "Hallows Eve 1903") are especially fine and so very eductive of laissez le bontemps roulez, both pre- and post-Katrina.

The Beaten Path is for fans, definitely; for those unfamiliar with the Shad Experience, try Chomp Chomp first.

[ visit the artist's website ]