Karaoke isn’t my thing. Forced to participate, I might turn to the songbook of Dan Penn. “It Tears Me Up” and “The Dark End of the Street” are beyond my limited range, but I’d like to think I could pull off "Cry Like a Baby" or "I'm Your Puppet" through the use of goofy gesticulations.
Penn’s new album Smoke Filled Room is loaded with new karaoke candidates. The hard-knock “Blues of the Month Club” is a solid update of the Bobby “Blue” Bland hit “Members Only.” The reverent gospel composition “One Blue Light” sounds for all the world like a new Christmas classic.
“Nothing Out There” is an ode to mature love. A polished cover of the octogenarian’s breakup song “Leave It Like You Found It” could become a hit for Miranda Lambert. But compelled to step up to the mic, I’d attempt to talk-sing my way through the blue-eyed soul of the title track.