Good Dog, Happy Man

It’s impossible not to like Frisell’s mellow reflections on American roots styles, even though the guitarist’s former avant-jazz colleagues may mutter he’s gone soft-brained. Good Dog, Happy Man is the second album Frisell has made with the great rock drummer Jim Keltner, whose backbeat provides the kind of meat-and-potatoes groove Frisell’s been going for anyway. More cerebral than Ry Cooder (who guests on one song), the large-souled Frisell offers his own brilliant take on folk-country-blues. A-