D. Charles Speer's solo debut is one of those albums that merrily trashes the very idea of specific genre divisions by existing. Is it traditional American folk? Is it modern guitar experimentalism? Is it a psychedelic album? To say it's all these things -- and more -- is a bit pat, but still applies, with Speer's rich, warm voice and sprightly guitar, bouzouki, and mandolin playing (among other instruments) the center of everything. Unlike, say, the many figures who overtly follow in the guitar fantasia footsteps of such monumental performers like John Fahey and Sandy Bull, Speer's emphasis is on shorter songs and more immediately straightforward melodies and song structures; it's a formal collection of both originals and reinterpretations but still avoids sounding like a hidebound effort, and like those notable figures, Speer clearly absorbs a variety of music from around the world for his work. Sometimes it's due to the arrangements -- the spindly electric guitar, for instance, that provides a clear counterpoint to the acoustic work on the first section of Furze, or the delicate rush of plucked notes that makes The Janissaries one of the album's most evocative highlights, suggesting a non-Western style that can't specifically be placed as Turkish or anything else for that matter. Meanwhile, Speer's singing -- the antithesis of the sometimes too precious for words kiddie warbling of the freak folk masses -- adds an air of strong command (and a hint of swagger) to about half the album's tracks, his ruminations neither too opaque nor too run of the mill, as the mighty fine trucking song Tombstone Every Mile shows to a T. A standout is a version of Hank Williams' House of Gold, his double-tracked performance a lovely exercise in country/blues/gospel that, once again, shows that Speer thinks divisions are there to be crossed and ignored -- something which Spiral Betty, a brilliant encapsulation of classic rock jamming in two-and-a-half minutes, further captures. ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi

1		Nathan's Gully
2		Bound to Ride
3		Furze, Pt. 1
4		Furze, Pt. 2
5		Humid Nimbus
6		The Janissaries
7		House of Gold
8		Tombstone Every Nile
9		Stringtoy Leather
10		Zeybek Is Hot
11		There Stands the Glass
12		Spiral Betty
13		Excursus Hasbura