Turf

A portrait of the Irishman as an American neo-folkie. Having experimented with extra instrumentation on his first two albums, Luka Bloom made a man-with-guitar record his third time out, the better to emphasize his songs, which combined a strong folk traditionalism (one was called “Black Is The Colour [of my true love's hair],” another described an encounter with a mermaid) with an Amer-Irish social concern (“Freedom Song” mixed the stories of political activists from each country, “Background Noise” was a tale of violence applicable anywhere, even if it referred to the Irish Troubles). All of this made for a more focused record than Bloom’s second album, although his debut remained his most satisfying effort. – William Ruhlmann