Louisiana Music Legends Butch Hornsby and Bonnie Murray Tamblyn on Disc

Take lyrical genius, stir in a head-spinning dose of manic humor and dead-on melodic instincts, sprinkle generously with handfuls of pathos, bawdy vaudevillian instincts and heartbreakingly earnest emotion, and you have what one colleague called an "enigma wrapped in a mystery."

And that just begins to explain the phenomenon of Butch Hornsby, a man who many Louisiana music industry observers regard as one of the great - if woefully underappreciated - songwriters ever to emerge from Baton Rouge. He may well have been one of the best songwriters ever, period.

Certainly, Hornsby, who died in 2004, had the respect of his peers, and it shows in the loving care his colleagues and collaborators put into the recently released compilation of his best work, Butch Hornsby: Life and Times. (available from Pal Productions and Vetter Communications).

The 23 cuts show the full range of his facility for blending bedrock country with raucous rockabilly, delta blues and mainstream pop sensibilities. Among the classics: "Rock Bottom on Romaine," "I Have the Seen the Universe" (with its aching refrain, "…and it looks like home…it looks like home"), "Room to Rock", "My Little Artist" and "Greater Nashville." His elegantly countrified humor gets full expression in classic ditties like "Don't Take It Out on the Dog" and "I Ain't No Chauffer (but I Can Hold It in the Road)."

To paraphrase a sage, it's not likely we'll see the likes of him again. As his widow recalled after listening through the bathroom door as he strummed the opening chords to "Some Songs (Seem Like Rain), "I know how Audrey felt when she listened to Hank work on "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry".

NOTABLE OTHERS:

Bonnie Murray Tamblyn's Return of the Rainbow Girl, is notable both for Murray's elemental blend of rock and blues sensibilities, laid on an provocative foundation of her early counter-cultural folkie roots, and for its rich and rollicking instrumental layers by a long list of music legends, including Duke Bardwell, Larry Sims and Duncan Cameron among others.

Although her daughter, Amber Tamblyn (who played the title character of the critically acclaimed TV series, "Joan of Arcadia," before graduating to major feature films) may be a bit biased, she's accurate, nonetheless: "Bonnie Murray is rock 'n roll's hidden heart of gold."

Finally, the new Capital City Blues compilation features cuts by a number of area artists, including Luther Kent, Ron Cliburn, Raful Neal, Silas Hogan, Buddy Flett, Susan Owens and Gregg Wright. Part of a series, the CDs raise funds for the Baton Rouge Blues Foundation's Music in the Schools program.

Among the artists who present lectures and performances at schools throughout Louisiana are Alvin Batiste, Theresa Anderson, Bobby Campo, Buddy Flett, Herman Jackson, Deacon John and Mike Esenault.