Aaron Neville

New Orleans' most famous soul crooner covers the R&B classics that we all grew up hearing. While everyone from Rod to Julio is covering old songs now, Aaron Neville does them right; he respects the brilliant source material while bringing his own style and experience to each number. The low key arrangements compliment his intimate, oddly touching falsetto. His reading of "Stand by Me" is especially charged, coming in Katrina's aftermath, while the ending number, Sam Cooke's civil rights anthem, signals that a change still needs to come.