Edgewise
If James Taylor is a watered-down imitation of Paul Simon, and Graham Nash is a watered-down imitation of Taylor, and Dan Fogelberg is a watered-down imitation of Nash, and Lowen & Navarro are a watered-down imitation of Fogelberg, then Vance Gilbert is a watered-down imitation of Lowen & Navarro. Gilbert's new album, "Edgewise," is an unasked-for revival of that late-'70s genre, fern-bar folk. It's hard to say why Philo Records picked Gilbert out of the thousands of guitar-strummers who sing Crosby, Stills & Nash songs in restaurant-bars across America (perhaps they held a lottery), but this Boston-based singer-guitarist has mastered all the elements: the whining self-pity, the cloying sensitivity, the Casio-like rhythms, the relentlessly cheerful major-chord melodies. --Geoffrey Himes