Artist:     Andy Thorn

Album:     Frontiers Like These

Label:     Self-Released

Release Date:     6.21.19

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You don’t have to be as flashy or weird as Béla Fleck to make an impression with a banjo. Plenty of players and listeners alike feel just as much at home in the realm of straightforward country-folk. The music world always has plenty of room for tried-and-true familiarity, which doesn’t have to mean overdone or stale. Play from the heart and there’ll always be a niche somewhere for what you do.

Andy Thorn is in the latter camp among recent generations of five-stringers. He’s best known for an extended stint with Leftover Salmon, and the guests here include good friends like Andrew Marlin, Bobby Britt and jazz-grass luminary Jon Stickley. There’s some solid virtuosity running through Frontiers Like These, but that’s not really the point. Here it’s more than outmatched by down-home humility and an unmistakable camaraderie among the crew.

That’s not to say the leader isn’t interested in finding his own spin on the folkie thing. He celebrates his home state with a tune called “Blazing the Trail,” for one thing—an admirable theme, even if this particular subject (about legalizing some certain plant matter) won’t keep it from feeling dated down the road. His unassuming charm makes these melodies sound downright neighborly when he steps up to the mike, even when he’s musing on big-world issues such as capitalism and climate change.

Those pieces are balanced with some sprightly instrumental workouts, which both gives Frontiers a boost and sometimes leaves it feeling like two different EPs shuffled together. Thorn’s fretting and picking is as appealing as the hooks, while the guests’ guitar and violin make beautiful foils—check the gentle-flowing “Isabelle’s Wake” or the highlight “Thornado,” which (of course) leaves an eye of musical calm in between two roiling whirls.

The album’s bluegrassy part may stand out as the stronger half, but both sides of Thorn’s personality are nonetheless as genuine and easygoing as any listener could ask for. Slight patchwork quality or not, Frontiers Like These comes out as an amiable slow-grower with charm and style.

—Geno Thackara