With wailing harmonicas, soaring fiddles, twangy guitars, and a solid two-four square dance beat, the musical backdrop is the kind we’d expect to hear with the lyrics of Hank Williams or Merle Haggard, not of the great Broadway poet Ira Gershwin with melodies by his kid brother, George.  

Instead of “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” or “The Gambler,” we’re hearing “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “I Got Rhythm,” and though a dozen of the greatest stars in contemporary Country & Western music are present, the central voice and the musical mind driving the whole project is Michael Feinstein.