The Best of Me (Texas Jamboree, 2000)

T Jarrod Bonta has already earned quite a reputation as an Austin session player. On his first solo effort, his singing is pretty good, and his playing's even better. He opens with "The Best of Me," a fine walking, hillbilly blues, and stretches out on the instrumental "Blues in B-flat." Side two moves from blues to honky-tonk with a run-through of the Porter Wagoner standard "I Thought I Heard You Call My Name" and the two-stepping "Too Early to Go Home." Bonta has a full-length CD forthcoming; this EP gives an enticing taste of what's to come. (P.O. Box 161405, Austin, TX 78716)