Party like it's 1929

West Virginia native Tim O’Brien is an award-winning songwriter and vocalist. As a member of bluegrass band Hot Rize, he won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s first Entertainer of the Year award in 1990. O’Brien himself won the 1993 and 2006 International Bluegrass Music Association awards for Male Vocalist of the Year. He also won a Grammy in 2006 for Best Traditional Folk Album for his album Fiddler’s Green.

Chameleon, O’Brien’s latest album, begins with “Where’s Love Come From,” a happy, up-tempo song that mixes folk rock with blues. The only music on this track is a product of O’Brien’s vocals and his exquisite acoustic guitar picking. This is the theme for this album, as O’Brien recorded the entire album himself.

The next song “Hoss Race” continues the acoustic guitar and vocals only blues-rock sound. This track sounds like it was written by some of the old-time musicians from the late ’20s and early ’30s. “Hoss Race,” as well as many other songs on Chameleon, sound like they could be put right next to many of the folk and bluegrass classics from the Depression era.

On “Red Dog In The Morning” O’Brien manages to mix old-school blues with bluegrass, two shades of blue that blend into an excellent sound. “Red Dog” is dominated by O’Brien’s mesmerizing banjo-playing and singing. With each passing track on this album, O’Brien’s talent and versatility become more evident.

“Megna’s” is a great song that has O’Brien beautifully playing a mandolin and singing at his loudest, most melodic and happiest. It’s hard to tell which is more uplifting: O’Brien’s enticing mandolin rhythm or his smooth, piercing vocals. O’Brien has the musical talent and depth to turn syrupy tunes into musical gold.

O’Brien has an excellent bluegrass voice that can be melodic when it needs to be and fits into the American-roots sound perfectly. His multi-instrumental virtuosity extends to acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin and fiddle equally well. Any fears of redundancy on this album are immediately quashed after hearing just a few of the many wonderful songs on this 16-track album.

If you like bluegrass, folk, blues and real country (not the fake Top 40 country), then this album is a must have.