Waltz of the Wind
The serenity of the central Pacific meets the stateliness of the deep South when Hawaiian slack-key guitar master Led Kaapana works with Nashville stalwarts like Ricky Skaggs and Alison Krauss. Slack key is a turn-of-the-century creation that uses open tunings to create a rich, dreamy sound; Kaapana's style embraces the genre's traditional and progressive wings alike. A master improviser, he plays more tautly here than he would with Hawaiian accompanists, while the Nashville cats are bluegrass speedsters enjoying a rare chance to ease up. Louisiana man Sonny Landreth provides the most daring foil with his razor-sharp electric slide guitar on the Cajun "Les Flammes d'Enfer" and his national steel musings on "Ku 'u Ipo Onaona." With country ("Move It On Over"), Western swing ("Steel Guitar Rag"), and pop-jazz ("Honeysuckle Rose") supplementing the Hawaiian repertoire, these pickers spawn a quiet reverie that evokes the mystery and wonder of both locales.--John Morthland