Midnight Souvenirs

Peter Wolf started in the music industry playing with bluesmen Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. He was also an influential freeform disc jockey but got famous as the lead singer for the J. Geils Band ("Centerfold").

Midnight Souvenirs is Wolf’s seventh solo effort and his first in eight years. From the opening country-rock duet "Tragedy" with Shelby Lynne, to the acoustic "Green Fields of Summer" with Neko Case, to the retro-country duet "It's Too Late for Me" with Merle Haggard, Wolf doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight.

The standout tracks, however, are ’80s throwback rocker "I Don't Wanna Know," with a driving drumbeat and guitar lead reminiscent of Jackson Brown's "Running on Empty," and the Dylanesque "Don't Try to Change Her": "She can't go back the way she came, a part of her no one will ever tame, she likes to feel the flame...don't try to change her."

"Overnight Lows" is a hip knock-off of the Chi-Lites’ "Have You Seen Her," featuring a playful voice-over confession from Wolf: "You know some people are always running away from love... I guess I've been doing it for a long time." Wolf has been doing this a long time, and the chops on Midnight Souvenirs prove it.

• Album: Midnight Souvenirs (2010)
• Artist: Peter Wolf
• Label: Verve/UMe
• Songs: (1) Tragedy, (2) I Don't Wanna Know, (3) Watch Her Move, (4) There's Still Time, (5) Lying Low, (6) The Green Fields of Summer, (7) Thick as Thieves, (8) Always Asking for You, (9) Then It Leaves Us All Behind, (10) Overnight Lows, (11) Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky, (11) Don't Try to Change Her, (12) The Night Comes Down, (13) It's Too Late for Me