Many Robert Johnson tributes have come and gone (Who could forget the controversy Eric Clapton’s stirred in these very pages?) but this is a novel and refreshing take. Block, long considered the greatest contemporary female delta blues guitar player, pays her guitaristic respects with a light, elegant touch that accents the delicacy of Johnson’s figures and lingers poignantly on key notes. But it’s her vocal delivery that provides a real alternate take on Johnson’s work, heard to best effect on her great reading of “Terraplane Blues.” The addition of a gospel choir to the arrangement of “Cross Road Blues” is an inspired touch.