Sensible Music for Troubled Times (Hairydog, 1997)

This 17-song CD offers a variety of styles from this charming New England group. The brief intermission between tracks 9 and 10 almost imparts a feeling of having to get up and turn the album over. Part string band, part swing band, part folk revivalists, there's literally something for everyone.

The Bagboys show impressive chops in musicology, digging back for a vintage tune by Country Music Hall of Fame member Cindy Walker ("Miss Molly'), the ironic "Damn Yankee Lad" popularized by the Osborne Brothers, and the Mills Brothers classic "Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You.) "

There are several fine original tunes, including the album's kick-off "Carry Me Back." It's a good, solid outting of music, one that might have been captured on a radio variety show from the '40s, or a dig through Grandpa's old 78s. And that's not a bad start, not bad at all. (Gretchen Bowder, P.O. Box 604, Medford, MA 02155)