Power Trio

Lost John Dean
Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch & Fats Kaplin
(Dead Reckoning/Compass)

After spending countless hours (and more than a few dollars) trying to figure out what makes a great Americana album, I'm left with a bastardization of Justice Potter Stewart's famous definition of pornography: I don't know what it is, but I know it when I hear it.

The first time I played the new Keiran Kane, Kevin Welch & Fats Kaplin disc, "Lost John Dean," I pretty much knew I was hearing it.

Apparently I'm not the only one that feels this way. Last week, "Lost John Dean" rose to No. 1 on the Americana Radio Chart (the disc was released on May 9), stepping over Bruce Springsteen's "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" to get there.

"Lost John Dean" is the follow-up to the trio's first collaboration, 2004's "You Can't Save Everybody," which also reached the top of the Americana chart. They didn't change the formula this time around, but why would they? "You Can't Save Everybody" matched two top-notch songwriters (Kane & Welch) with a guy who can seemingly play anything with strings or keys (Kaplin). The sum is even greater than its estimable parts. An organic mix of blues, country and folk, "Lost John Dean" has an off-the-cuff, back-porch-jam feel that is sure to be palatable to a variety of tastes. Yet for all the informality, it has a clean, polished sound.

And despite multi-instrumentalist Kaplin's rainbow coalition of tones, the tunes are uncluttered. That's because the instruments were used for color rather than layering. It's a good thing, too. Building a Wall of Sound would have been pretty daunting with a lineup more diverse than your average Guitar Center: Acoustic and electric guitar, banjo, fiddle, accordion, drums, octave mandolin, tambourine and oud (Middle Eastern lute). The "down home" aesthetic is rounded out with occasional thigh-slap and foot-stomp percussion.

The varied accompaniment provides different textures, from the fiddle backing the whimsical wordplay of the opening track, "Monkey Jump," to the old-timey "Them Wheels Don't Roll" to the Eastern-tinged "Mr. Bones." The main undercurrent still is country blues, overtly on a cover of Willie Dixon's "Mellow Down Easy" and more suggestively elsewhere.

The single "Postcard From Mexico," written by John Hadley and Dave Olney, is representative of the album's overall sound. Combining a funky beat and a cool, call-and-response narrative, it nails the overriding bluesy feel. It also fits nicely into a loose theme of traveling songs inhabited by ramblers, rogues and gamblers. Many of these travelers could also accurately be described as "on the run." The protagonist of "Postcard" runs with a femme fatale, but even after getting double-crossed he wants to run back to her. The title track, about "Lost John Dean, a bold black robber from Bowling Green," falls into the crime-and-punishment category as well.

"Lost John Dean" doesn't spend its duration on the lam, though. Some of the journeys are spiritual and forward-looking. The sweet ballad "I Can't Wait" anticipates a greater reward: "We will find a way to / an understanding of all views / and no prayer shall be refused / I can't wait."

Based on this trio's track record, I can't wait to hear what's next.