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The Arts Intel Report

Marc Ribot, "Songs of Resistance"

September 15, 2019
Via Pietro de Coubertin, 30, 00196 Roma RM, Italy

Being earnest is important, and risky. In last year’s album Songs of Resistance 1942-2018, Downtown guitar hero Ribot gamely ran those risks, with tracks running the gamut from Italian Partisan dirges to Trump-bashing mariachi. Though he won’t, on tour, have the likes of Tom Waits, Steve Earle, or Meshell Ndegeocello to nail the vocals, his scrap-iron string sounds should carry the day. —E.E.