Original Broadway Cast, 2013 (Ghostlight) (3.5 / 5) Here is a unique example of American musical theater in the 21st century. With a score by Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green, and a book by Doug Wright, Hands on a Hardbody entertained audiences at the Brooks Atkinson Theater for only 28 performances in 2013, yet from the first twang on the album, we hear a distinctive blend of Country/Western music and bluesy rock. Based on a 1997 documentary that depicts a yearly competition in Texas wherein 24 contestants compete to win a truck by seeing who can keep their hand on the vehicle for the longest amount of time, the musical is a true ensemble piece;  the cast of competitors includes Broadway favorite Hunter Foster alongside newcomer Keala Settle and TV, movie, and Broadway veteran Keith Carradine. Settle gives this album some gas, and she nearly stole the show onstage with her energetic gospel number, “Joy of the Lord.” Foster gets the 11 o’clock barn-burner “God Answered My Prayers,” and Carradine lends a gritty authenticity to his few vocal solos, especially the very touching “Used To Be.” The other contestants — played by Allison Case,  Jay Armstrong Johnson, David Larsen, Jacob Ming-Trent, Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone, Jon Rua, and Dale Soules — all get their moments to shine, following the tradition of such shows as A Chorus Line and Cats. Some listeners may pump the brakes when they hear the occasional use of slant rhymes (“Cassius/ashes,” “turnip/burn up”) in Green’s lyrics, and  the album does have quite a few clunkers and oddities; two examples are the finale, “Keep Your Hands On It,” which attempts sentimentality but with lyrics so bland that the song comes across as hokey, and “Uncontrollable Laughter,” in which we hear Settle’s religious-zealot character cackling for a full minute. But the great songs on this album are certainly worth sifting through the lesser ones, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. — Forrest Hutchinson