Al Green's 1972 masterpiece Call Me might inspire some listeners to tangle in the sheets, but the album is just as likely to inspire passion of a more patriotic sort. Blame it on Hank Williams Sr. and Willie Nelson. Green's covers of Williams '"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," and Nelson's "Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away," exemplify the special something that happens when a great soul singer records an equally beautiful country tune. For years, even musical miscegenation was dangerous business below the Mason Dixon line. These covers confirm the notion that American musicians have always been able to go where regular mortals couldn't or wouldn't.

Green's work tells a typical American story, a classic bildungsroman of success and redemption, and Call Me is a crucial chapter leading up to the tale's climax. From the first guitar twang to the last Hammond honk — not to mention Green's multi-bar pleading high notes — the title track is probably the grooviest-grooved come-back-to-me-baby song ever (okay, Green's own "I'm Still In Love With You" finishes neck in neck for the title). "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" covers the same emotional ground, but with a bluesier method. It's… read more »