Amazon.com Originally released by the short-lived folk revival label Gold Castle in the late 1980s, Back to the Front finds well-worn troubadour Bob Neuwirth keeping company with an intriguing assortment of fellow travelers. Alpha Band founder J. Steven Soles produced the record out of his living room, enlisting his two former Alpha compatriots--T Bone Burnett and David Mansfield--as sidemen. Also sitting in are the then-husband-and-wife team of Peter Case and Victoria Williams, Maria Muldaur, former Eagle Bernie Leadon, and Willie Nelson harmonica player Mickey Raphael. Still, this august assortment of pickers and singers stands in service of Neuwirth, who wrote or cowrote all 14 songs included in the collection, each of which he sings with a voice that's as frayed as a wind-whipped banner. Though this album was barely acknowledged when it first hit the racks, a few of its numbers--including "Eye on the Road" and "Annabelle Lee"--have found there way into the repertoires of current singer-songwriters. There's no higher compliment for a balladeer of Neuwirth's make. --Steven Stolder
