Play By The Rules

Arkansas natives and brothers Ernie and Earl Cate specialize in a kind of roots-oriented blue-eyed soul that features Ernie's flexible voice (which in the higher register sounds a little like Curtis Mayfield) and Earl's solid, subtle lead guitar work. Play by the Rules doesn't break any new ground for the duo, but in an age of flash, shock, and glitz, the album's steady, easy professionalism is most welcome, a bit like having an old friend stop by for an evening of conversation. Highlights include a cover of John Hiatt's "Child of the Wild Blue Yonder," which makes good use of Dave Renko's sax playing, a version of Robbie Robertson's "The Shape I'm In" (the Cate Brothers were briefly members of a reconstituted Band in the early '80s, after Robertson had left the group), and the heartbreaking ballad "This Side of Heaven," written after the deaths of Earl's wife, Angela, and longtime sideman William "Porky" Hill. Nothing here has the impact of the brothers' 1979 hit "Union Man," but the album's no-frills blue-collar feel is comfortable in its sincerity and weary hopefulness. ~ Steve Leggett