Appleseed

David Bromberg is back – the real David Bromberg, that is. Try Me One More Time, Bromberg’s 2007 comeback album after a 17-year recording gap, was largely a disappointment: nearly all covers, it felt as if this exceptional instrumentalist and multi-tasking stylist hadn’t really grown in his absence. Perhaps it’s because he’s surrounded himself on this album with such high-profile guests as Linda Ronstadt, Levon Helm, Los Lobos and Dr. John, or maybe he’s just figured out where he wants to go now that he’s back in the spotlight, but Use Me is a vastly more entertaining and exciting recording. “Old Neighborhood” – with Widespread Panic – is full of swampy dueling guitars, while “Lookout Mountain Girl,” with assistance from Vince Gill, is an update of the kind of acoustic brilliance that Bromberg cut his teeth on. Hell, he’s even singing better than ever!