Surrounding himself with a familiar cast of impeccable pros -- electric guitarist Kenny Vaughan, percussionist/drummer Kenny Malone, bassist Dennis Crouch, and fiddler Casey Driessen form the core of the ensemble, with guest spots from Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, and Dan Tyminski, among others -- bluegrass stalwart Tim O’Brien leads a cookout that trades heavily on some freshly arranged traditional numbers, with a couple of hearty originals adding some spice to the … mehrrecipe. O’Brien offers a rustic, haunting treatment of “House of the Risin’ Sun” made doubly effective by the restrained instrumental support of Charlie Cushman on banjo and Douglas on resophonic guitar. A lively dialogue between Vaughan, Duncan, and Dan Dugmore on pedal steel introduces O’Brien’s waltz take on Harlan Howard’s “Busted,” heretofore better known as a Johnny Cash evergreen. Vaughan, one of the best guitarists around, is especially affecting with his lovely, soft punctuation on the lovely country-western love ballad “The Foggy Foggy Dew,” done here as a slow shuffle with Sam Levine’s warm, sensuous solos on tenor sax augmenting an altogether captivating soundscape. O’Brien will not go down as one of the great country or bluegrass singers, but there’s a lot to be said for a personable tenor that makes a listener feel right at home -- when he cries out “Let’s go to huntin’!” in the jubilant “Let’s Go Huntin’ ” and enumerates the particulars of a scrumptious supper in the mild stomp that is “Cornbread Nation,” he’s talkin’ the talk as credibly as Doc Watson. Cornbread Nation doesn’t arrive with a lot of pre-release fanfare, but its sterling musicianship and heartwarming soul mark it as one of the year’s high-water marks in traditional music. weniger

1. Hold On
2. Moses
3. Cornbread Nation
4. The Foggy Dew
5. Let's Go Huntin'… mehr
6. Walkin' Boss
7. House of the Rising Sun
8. Runnin' Out of Memory
9. Busted weniger