Album: Jerry Douglas, Traveler (Proper)

Few musicians ever achieve such complete dominance and superiority on their instrument as Jerry Douglas: not a single voice is raised in challenge to Douglas’s mastery of the dobro.

This latest, guest-laden album shows why: instrumentals like “Duke and Cookie” and “Gone to Fortingall” are knuckle-knotting showcases for his dexterity, those beautiful, curling dobro lines threading their serpentine way through the melodies, while a tender solo reading of Paul Simon’s “American Tune” is capped with a flurry of dextrous flamenco.

Download: On a Monday; Duke and Cookie; American Tune; Frozen Fields