"Andrew Jackson was a patriot and a traitor," wrote James Parton, Jackson's first biographer, in 1859. "He was a democratic autocrat, an urbane savage, an atrocious saint." These dichotomies of character are examined in the PBS documentary Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil and the Presidency. If our current commander in chief is slated to go down in history as the worst ever, Jackson could be a contender for a close second. Composer Christopher Hedge's soundtrack shores up all the aspects, good and bad, of Jackson's legacy. Irish jigs and string-band music score Jackson's humble beginnings.

The quasi-classical chamber music of the lovely "Rachel's Adagio & Variation" provides a backdrop for his rise to the presidency. The drums of the Eighth Regiment Band of Rome, Georgia, punctuate his controversial military career.

Jackson's policy of "Indian removal" led to the infamous Trail of Tears, which made room for plantations on the seized lands, to be worked by slaves. Flutist R. Carlos Nakai teams up with Congolese drummer Titos Sompa to provide cross-cultural commentary on these atrocities. The David Grisman Bluegrass Experience throws in some traditional tunes of the era, spryly played, if a tad anachronistic. Irish musicians Joe Weed (on fiddle) and David Brewer (on pipes, flute, pennywhistle and bodhran) provide a warm swirl of Celtic music. Hedge bookends the CD with "Andrew Jackson" and "Jackson's Requiem," two treatments of the same melodic material. The first has an arching optimism, with crisp military drums; the second is mournful and rueful, the drums muted - perhaps a more elegant elegy than the man deserved. 

-by Peggy Latkovich