'San Francisco singer-songwriter Saul Kaye is not an ordained rabbi, but he can lead the morning prayers with the best of them. That explains his new CD, “Jewish Blues Volume III,” subtitled “t’filah” (prayer), in which he sets the Shacharit service to music. He even includes a minute of silence for personal prayers. Kaye’s blues chops are beyond reproach, and though he only occasionally ventures into straight-up blues, that vibe hovers in the background. With a voice pocked with pain and experience (not unlike Glen Hansard of “Once” fame), Kaye growls his way through bright arrangements of “Adon Olam” and “Ma Tovu.” “Blessed Be the Name” echoes the fingerpicking country blues style of Elizabeth Cotton, while Kaye’s waltz-time version of “Ashrei” incorporates tasty pedal steel and slack key guitar touches. Kaye’s broad musical tastes include a feel for Middle Eastern–flavored salsa, as in his “Halleluyah,” even as he shows off his slide guitar skills on “Kol Han’Shamah” and the “Vahavta.” The latter has a rum-infused Jimmy Buffet feel, Kaye has fun with it. The album’s most adventurous track, “Sh’ma,” clocks in at six-plus minutes. He hurls all his rock, blues and soul influences at this central Jewish prayer, with his whispered vocals sticking to the traditional tune, something he also does on his harder rocking “Aleinu.” Kaye continues the parade of genres with his country-blues version of “Mi Chamocha” and surf pop underscoring of “Al Tira” (the latter includes passages from FDR, Nachman of Braslav and Kaye’s own homily on fearlessness). He wraps it up with “Oseh Shalom,” rendered like a bluesy incarnation of a New Orleans marching band. Rarely does Jewish music produce an artist with both impeccable blues chops and the kavanah of a Hassid. Kaye fits that odd bill, and we’re better off for it.' -Dan Pine The J Weekly 3/29/2012