Top Picks: Steven Satterfield's cookbook 'Root to Leaf,' Mark Knopfler's album 'Tracker,' and more
High-water Mark
Mark Knopfler offers the gruff with the smooth. On , the songwriter performs 11 roots songs with a burred voice and a buttery guitar sound so recognizable you could pick it out in a blindfold test. Lovely melodies such as 鈥淟ong Cool Girl,鈥� 鈥淏roken Bones,鈥� and 鈥淏asil鈥� are too languid for Knopfler to require the sweatband he famously wore when performing as a member of Dire Straits. Yet these affecting tales about a newspaper copy boy, a boxer, and an overlooked novelist exemplify his masterly songwriting craft.聽
Get ready for spring greens
, by Southern chef Steven Satterfield, is a leafy response to the nose-to-tail food movement. At his Atlanta restaurant Miller Union, Satterfield has developed a keen sense of how best to fully use in-season produce, whether it is appreciating the cleansing bitterness of dandelion greens or munching on edible blossoms. There are plenty of familiar staples here, too, in this vegetable-first cookbook.聽
Against the odds
The 2013 documentary 鈥�180 Days鈥� followed a Washington, D.C., high school over one school year. Now, codirectors Jacquie Jones and Garland McLaurin present , which highlights one city that鈥檚 doing something right. Hartsville, S.C., is achieving a 92 percent high school graduation rate despite the fact that more than half the students are from low-income families. It premi猫res on PBS on March 17 at 8 p.m.
Joy and release
If bluesman John Lee Hooker had been raised in Mali, he might have made music like this. , by Malian singer/guitarist Samba Tour茅, is hypnotic, soulful, groovy, and captivating. These 10 songs are more upbeat than his previous album 鈥淎lbala,鈥� reportedly recorded while radical Islamists punished any musicmaking in his village with public stoning. 鈥淕andadiko鈥� is the sound of joy and release.
Magical animation
, an Irish animated film inspired by the stories of selkies (magical Celtic creatures), centers on two siblings who embark on a journey and are guided by a magical shell flute that belonged to their mother. A great wash of transcendent imagery floods the screen. It鈥檚 easily one of the best children鈥檚 films for all ages that鈥檚 ever been created. The movie will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 17.
