September 3, 2014

You can call Keb’ Mo’ a lot of things, but “unpredictable” isn’t one of them. His blues tradition is more down-home than hard-charging, more Delta than Chicago. His 11th album is basically more of this, and as usual it sounds great. Keb’ Mo’ doesn’t reinvent himself. Keb’ Mo’ plays the blues.

On the Söderberg sisters’ third album and their second with producer Mike Mogis, the sound is bigger and lusher, even utilizing strings and winds at times. But it remains rooted in ’70s folk rock, straight-ahead and fingerpicky and richly effective. And the main event is still the Swedish duo’s refreshingly full-throated singing—especially younger sister Klara, who sounds like a less flashy Neko Case.

Chris Thile is equally committed to the mandolin—that oh-so-traditional instrument he plays so uncommonly well—and to progressive stylistic exploration. Often this makes his projects come off a bit cute, the Harlem Globe­trotters of acoustic music. On paper, this audacious new crossover project—Thile playing J. S. Bach’s storied solo violin repertoire on mandolin—threatens to do the same.