Brother to the Wind

This former SKB member brings an identifiably East Coast sensibility to his use of Americana themes and motifs. In these tracks, Bickhardt’s smoky tenor and fluent fingerpicking bring the early work of Gordon Lightfoot and Tom Rush to mind, lightened by welcome flashes of humor. The homespun elegance of his playing matches the lyric vividness within tunes like “Life With the Sound Turned Down,” “Where In the World,” and the title track. The pleasures and demands of family life are reoccurring themes here, with the wry “Donald and June” and the tender “Carrying a Dream” standing out. The genial mood of “The Real Game” and “A Day Well Spent” contrasts with the roots-rock bite of “If He Came Back Again” and the nostalgic balladry of “This Old House.” Bickhardt’s backup combo includes such notables as bassist Byron House and fiddler Andy Leftwich, and Janis Ian, Tim O’Brien and Beth Nielsen Chapman lend vocal support on various tracks. Brother to the Wind has the resonance of classic folk-pop, delivered with the easy touch of a master.