Based on a jammy encounter among the Big Sur redwoods, Skifflin’ pairs the indie-folk outlaw Cass McCombs with members of alt-country Californians Beachwood Sparks. Taking its name from an early 20th-century term for American roots music, the album glides coolly from murder ballads (“Omie Wise”) and Grateful Dead–style boogie (“Michael Weikel”) to Laurel Canyon echoes (“When the Title Was Wrote”) and McCombs’ own oblique, off-handedly philosophical folk (“Always”) as it maintains a low-key—but mysteriously reticent—vibe throughout.