Traveler

Progressive bluegrass master Tim O'Brien has often pursued a very personal brand of eclecticism. It has led him on inspired forays into Celtic, Cajun, and occasionally even mainstream country. A Cajun flavor, courtesy of Dirk Powell's tasty accordion playing, sometimes informs this 12-song salute to the peripatetic life. Yet along with jaunty, footloose celebrations like "Kelly Joe's Shoes" and lighthearted odes to love and lust ("Fall Into Her Deep Blue Eyes"), O'Brien also ponders the deeper paradoxes of the heart and spirit in introspective songs like "I've Endured," "Restless Spirit Wandering" and "Family History." As always, O'Brien doesn't fence in his muse. His plaintive singing and masterful mandolin and bouzouki playing even conjure a spirit of Old World melancholy on the gently despairing title tune. --Bob Allen