John Hammond is a guitarist and singer who has mined the deep veins of traditional country and urban blues since the 1960s. So why he wanted to take on the contemporary street poetry of songsmith Tom Waits might at first seem curious. After all, there's no shortage of blues songs aching to be excavated, and besides, Waits, with his bleak tales of urban realism set to a clever melange of song styles, has had his own following since his first release in 1973.

But after Hammond brings the first verse of Waits' lament "2:19" (as in, "My baby's leavin' town on the 2:19") to a rolling boil, it's clearly a perfect match. On these reworkings of 12 Waits tunes, the expressive power of his rough, wry lyricism is pumped up by Hammond's raucous guitar and no-worse-for-wear vocals.

Hammond and band paint from a thicker, rootsier musical palette than that of the original recordings to plop the listener more directly into the street-smart scenes and wild casts of characters that Waits created.

On "Heartattack and Vine," Hammond's impatient, throbbing guitar work brings alive Waits' images of both the dregs and the cream of Waits' native L.A. descending to the wide-open streets for their noseful of instant fun. When Hammond sings, "You'll find your ignorance is blissful every goddamn time," he captures Waits' tone right on the money.

On "Till the Money Runs Out" ("Least I'll stick with you baby, till the money runs out"), Hammond wraps driving blues riffs around the sharp sketches of whores, dealers and hustlers who confess to having "sold a quart of blood and bought half a pint of Scotch." "Shore Leave" stumbles through moody port bars where there's more drink than people, with Hammond's vocals filling with husky desperation and Augie Meyers' organ rolling out hungover eddies of chords.

"The Big Black Mariah" is revived into a honking country blues, bouncing along on loud electric guitar lines and sizzling harmonica fills from Charlie Musselwhite. The backing guitar and vocals of Waits himself stamps the songs with the official seal of approval.