Jimmy Webb has always been better known and respected as a songwriter than a performer, less because of any failings as a singer and instrumentalist and more because he's widely and justly acknowledged as one of the great pop tunesmith of the '60s and '70s. (If all Webb had written were "MacArthur Park," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," and "Wichita Lineman," he would still be a legend, and those three just scratch the surface of his repertoire.) That hasn't stopped Webb from pursuing an ongoing career in recordings and live work, but his 2019 album SlipCover is a true outlier in his catalog. Instead of offering his own take on his songs, SlipCover finds Webb covering ten songs by noted artists of the '60s and '70s (at the request of his spouse, he also included one of his own, "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress"), and rather than singing, he's approached them as instrumentals, performed entirely solo on an acoustic piano (though a music box pops up at the end of his version of the Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina"). This album flies in the face of the expectations of most Jimmy Webb fans, but it works surprisingly well. Webb is a graceful and fluid pianist with a fine touch, and he brings a sense of invention to his interpretations of these songs, not losing sight of the melody but allowing other colors to find their place within the tunes. In Webb's hands, there's something tender and evocative to be found in these classics from the Rolling Stones ("Moonlight Mile"), the Beatles ("The Long and Winding Road"), Joni Mitchell ("A Case of You"), Randy Newman ("Marie"), the Beach Boys ("God Only Knows"), and others. Though Webb cites Larry Knetchel and Floyd Cramer as inspirations for his piano style, his gentle but certain approach lends these songs a style of his own on SlipCover, hovering in an air of beautiful mystery, and by stripping the songs to their basics and taking a fresh look at what's inside, he allows listeners to hear them in a new context. SlipCover is a welcome detour from an enduring figure in American popular song.