20 Miles - Keep It Coming (2002)

As one-third of the blues-punk group the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Judah Bauer's clear, punchy guitar work serves as essential counterpoint to the songs' hard, funky backbeats. As leader of the ad hoc side group Twenty Miles (which features his brother Donovan on drums), his dexterity with a variety of vintage guitar sounds is only one focus of the music; he plays bass and harp -- and sings pretty damn well, too -- on Keep It Coming, his third and best disc. Bauer widely samples the R&B, blues, rockabilly, and funk that are at the root of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion sound. But the guitarist treats his influences a bit more gingerly on his own than with Spencer, while still injecting a punk spirit. Guests include the North Mississippi All-Stars, Cody and Luther Dickinson, and former Boss Hog member (and neighbor) Hollis Queens.