John Scofield

This time out, guitar legend John Scofield tackles long-loved spirituals (and one original) in a modern blues rock vein. The band has a light, but eminently funky, New Orleans R&B feeling, with John Boutte providing vocals and the Meters' George Porter Jr. on bass. While most of the songs get reconfigured into ways that most Eric Clapton or Robert Cray fans would recognize, "I'll Fly Away" and "Walk With Me" are placed in tasty, stripped-down settings, and Scofield's chicken-shack instrumental "It's a Big Army" will be adored by his growing fan base of younger Bonnaroo festivalgoers.