Tim O'Brien

Like fellow traveler Rhonda Vincent, Tim O'Brien is of the generation of singer/musicians that actively bridges the eras of traditional, high-lonesome (Bill Monroe, Stanley Brothers), and contemporary (The Seldom Scene and Hot Rize, of which O'Brien was a founding member) bluegrass. Unlike Vincent's, O'Brien's songs cover a lot more ground stylistically, taking in folk, country, Irish, and singer/songwriter strains, though O'Brien never strays far from the essence of the sparse sound of the hill country.

Traveler kicks off in fine style with a great one-two punch. The jaunty, Cajun accordion­charged, blues harmonica­ accented tribute to a pair of globe-trotting Converse high-top sneakers "Kelly Joe's Shoes" is followed up with the yearning, heavily Celtic-flavored "I've Endured," which also features some sanctified gospel harmonies. O'Brien then continues with some more nifty genre miscegenation: "Fell Into Her Deep Blue Eyes" is a loping country song sung over a chugging Cajun beat and goosed along by Jerry Douglas' keen blues-rock lap steel guitar, which sounds like an electric slide, the kind you'd most certainly hear on a more traditional bluegrass album.

But this is not a traditional bluegrass album (the surging "Turn the Page Again" is the only straight-up bluegrass tune here), although that music remains the basis of O'Brien's sound. He utilizes the vocabulary (guitar/mandolin/fiddle/bass instrumentation; streamlined song structure; unfussy, somewhat nasal singing) and respectfully builds upon it. The only misstep is the moping, overly earnest "Travelers," which gets dangerously close to O My Tortured Poet's Soul territory. While by no means a staunch purist, Tim O'Brien -- through his eclecticism and tradition-based skill -- not only draws upon the bluegrass canon but contributes to it as well.