ASH WEDNESDAY BLUES

Who'd have thought a Swede raised on an island in the Baltic, not a single drop of African blood in his veins, would emerge as one of the leading exponents of R&B and blues in New Orleans? Unlike many musicians from elsewhere who've staked out turf there, Osborne stays true to his own musical conceits, rather than mimic the storied local tradition. On his sixth and probably best album, he wrestles sincere feeling from every note he sings and every blue note he plays on guitars, no matter if his technical skills aren't commanding. In his favor, too, the program is filled with sturdy, original slow blues and medium-tempo blues-rock songs. The one stinker is the trad-jazz-flavored "Life Is Strange." Guests: Jonny Lang and Keb' Mo'. Secret weapon: Kirk Joseph, playing bass lines on sousaphone. --Frank-John Hadley