Old/ New Baby

As its cover suggests, Old/New Baby is an album that traces back into time, with a sound that feels like it's traveled the streets of New Orleans. It's fitting, since Winslow-King found his way from Cadillac, Mich., down to the Big Easy, where he studied music theory at the University of New Orleans and worked as an accompanist to jazz singer John Boutte. For his second album, he wrote a number of the songs with his girlfriend, Ji Un Choi, and added true Dixieland arrangements to songs based on acoustic guitar and banjo. "All the Same" and especially the instrumental "Birthday Stomp" sound transported from the early part of the 20th century. There's a sweetness to songs like "I'll See You When I Look at You" and "The Sun Slamming the Highway," where Winslow-King slows things down from the party atmosphere of "Lost Soul." "Bird Dog Blues" touches on Tom Waits' type of blues, though it's done without the high weirdness.