David Holt and the Lightning Bolts (High Windy, 2006)

Remember "O Brother Where Art Thou" - the scene where Baby Face Nelson has been captured? Holt is the mandolin player leading the parade. He's also a storyteller, instrumentalist and singer and won a Grammy with Doc Watson for "Traditional Folk Music," and that's as good a description as any of his latest release. You've heard these songs in bluegrass ("The Cuckoo," "The Train That Carried My Girl From Town," "Rock About My Saro Jane") and other genre ("Ready For Times To Get Better" and "Stagger Lee"). You're treated to a variety of instruments, including the open-back banjo, mouth bow and slide guitar, all played with skill and taste.

Styles vary from a driving "Saro Jane" to a laidback "Daybreak In Dixie," from "Nobody's Darlin' But Mine" as a slow ballad to a haunting "Ready For Times To Get Better" and then a bluesy "I Can Do It Too." The songs come from such diverse sources as Jimmie Skinner, Wade Mainer, Charlie Poole and Blind Willie Johnson. This is fun and easy listening, and it's going to be hard not to come away as a David Holt fan.