To daddy, with love

The tradition reached its critical and commercial zenith when Natalie Cole tipped her hat to her late father, Nat “King’’ Cole, with 1991’s Grammy-winning “Unforgettable: With Love.’’ Since then, we’ve heard Rufus Wainwright cover his dad Loudon’s “One Man Guy’’ and indie rockers the Fiery Furnaces collaborate with their grandmother on 2005’s “Rehearsing My Choir.’’

The latest additions to the canon feel especially personal and heartfelt. Rosanne Cash just released “The List’’ in honor of her father’s favorite country songs, and bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs went solo and sincere on his new “Songs My Dad Loved.’’

Cash’s 12th studio album comes with an irresistible back story. When she was 18, she went on the road with her father - the late, great Man in Black - and he was aghast that his daughter didn’t know many of country’s essential songs.

So he did what any dad would do: He sat down and wrote a list of the 100 songs he thought would give her a well-rounded education in American music, from Delta blues to pop standards to classic country.

Cash held on to that hand-scrawled roundup, and 36 years later we have her interpretations of 12 of those staples rendered in fresh and contemporary ways.

The list is inherently interesting, if only to see what Johnny Cash considered essential, including Bob Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country,’’ Hedy West’s folk standard “500 Miles,’’ and Patsy Cline’s countrypolitan hit “She’s Got You.’’

While Cash obviously reveres the originals, she’s not afraid to polish them up with tasteful and spare arrangements and a lean backing band. “Miss the Mississippi and You’’ brims with the kind of Sunday-afternoon jazz-pop associated with Norah Jones, and Cash sets Hank Snow’s “I’m Movin’ On’’ to a slinky, late-night junkyard vibe. A dusky cover of “Take These Chains From My Heart,’’ a chart-topper for both Hank Williams and Ray Charles, is mesmerizing for its stark understatement.

Disappointingly, the album’s star-studded cameos are mostly marginal. Elvis Costello chimes in only on the chorus of “Heartaches by the Number,’’ and Jeff Tweedy’s backing vocals are vaporous on “Long Black Veil.’’ Bruce Springsteen is barely recognizable on “Sea of Heartbreak,’’ sounding gloriously like a grizzled country outlaw, and Rufus Wainwright stands out with his lush harmonies on Merle Haggard’s “Silver Wings.’’

In the truest sign of a good album, after 40 minutes “The List’’ leaves you hungry for more. You want to know what songs didn’t make the cut, and you want to hear how Cash would have transformed them.

But it’s heartening to learn that Cash took her father’s wisdom to heart and has passed it down to her own children. Addressing them in the liner notes, Cash writes: “This is the first installment of your list.’’

JAMES REED

Skaggs’s last release, “Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass,’’ paid tribute to his musical forebears, specifically those responsible for birthing the music that came to be known as bluegrass. This time the tribute is more personal: Skaggs is honoring his own father, Hobert, the man responsible for instilling and encouraging his artistry and love of music.

He has chosen to do so in a novel way. Kentucky Thunder, his remarkable juggernaut of a backing band, is absent, and he does not look elsewhere for assistance. Instead, this is a solo record in the fullest sense of the term, with Skaggs singing leads and accompanying himself via multi-tracked harmonies, guitars, banjos, mandolins, fiddles, and sundry other instruments.

As the title indicates, Skaggs has chosen material - old fiddle tunes, ancient hymns, chestnuts from Roy Acuff and the Monroe and Stanley brothers - that meant something to his father, and thus to the son from the time he was a boy.

Skaggs’s instrumental dexterity and deep familiarity with these songs result in treatments, especially of gospel standards such as “The City That Lies Foursquare’’ and “Green Pastures in the Sky,’’ that are heartfelt, resonating, and subtly fresh. STUART MUNRO