Imagine a few friendly drunks, arms linked to bolster their balance while they sway to the downbeat songs of a rasping crooner singing into his beer. The soundtrack for this scenario could easily be Kris Kristofferson's Spooky Lady's Sideshow, the perfect mood music for malt liquor melancholics. Despite the provocative promise of the peepshow title, the songs exhibited here offer a bevy of down and outers like he's shown us before.

Sideshow begins on a resigned note, with "Same Old Song," a mellow motel blues that's been hanging around Kris' repertoire for a while. It bears his droll, understated trademark, summarizing success as "just a few more friends that you'll be losing when you drop." (p. 73)

Kris further slows the pace by following up with a loser's lament, "Broken Freedom Song."… Simple images of suffering sketch sensitive vignettes that evoke understanding as well as pity. The low-key arrangement...