Locked Down

Locked Down is Dr. John’s most personal statement as an artist. In these tracks, the venerable New Orleans icon revives his spooky Night Tripper persona while revealing more of the man within the costume (Mac Rebennack) than ever before. He’s helped considerably by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, whose inspired production invokes the swampy voodoo vibes of Dr. John’s classic Gris-Gris album with fat horn lines, hypnotic percussion, and wailing background vocals. Seething multilayered tracks like “Revolution,” “Ice Age," and “Kingdom of Izzness” tear into the modern world's corruption, with Rebennack’s growling vocals and quivering keyboards spurred on by Auerbach’s acid-dipped lead guitar. The title tune (a relentless broadside against legal injustice) and “Big Shot” (a woozy celebration of illicit good times) allude to highs and lows in the singer’s own life. Most confessional is “My Children, My Angels," a heartfelt message of love from a penitent father. The joyously rocking and profoundly funky “God’s Sure Great” ends the album on a life-affirming note.