Let It Fall

Though Sean Watkins has been a celebrated flat-picker since his midteens, this first solo album from the Nickel Creek guitarist impresses most through its subtlety, restraint, and a maturity beyond its years. Where earlier bluegrass generations often seemed to equate velocity with virtuosity, Watkins writes warmly melodic material with memorable hooks, employing traditional acoustic instrumentation to liberating effect. The album's title cut, its one vocal selection, features Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket), sounding like a sunnier version of the late Nick Drake. Elsewhere, the chamber strains of "The Birth" put the fiddle of Nickel Creek's Sara Watkins in tandem with her brother's guitar and mandolin, while the sprightly "The Ant and the Ant" finds him matching licks with veteran session stalwarts Jerry Douglas on Dobro and Stuart Duncan on fiddle. On the jazzy swing of the bonus track, Watkins teams with a decidedly non-bluegrass rhythm section. --Don McLeese