WALLS OF TIME | RAMBLES

Mike Block's Walls of Time arises from another century, namely the current one, even though it reprises vocal numbers and instrumentals the McReynolds family and its contemporaries would have known, including the songs "The Blackest Crow" and "Wayfaring Stranger" alongside the tunes "Old Sledge" and "Forked Deer." But while traditional in origin, these are not traditional in Block's handling. As a classically trained cellist, he is far removed, geographically and temporally, from the realm in which the Old Southern Sound (Mike Seeger's phrase) came to be.

What sets this recording apart from the Jesse McReynolds disc is the mid-century folk revival, which opened up folk songs to original or even experimental interpretation. Either such interpretations work, or they don't. As the saying goes, the worst thing you can do to a folk song is not to sing it. Block is kind to the music in that way, and beyond that, he captures its spirit even in settings far removed from the originals.

The only one of the 10 numbers here I object to is the closer, Chuck Berry's "Roll Over, Beethoven." That's not because I dislike it as a matter of principle. It's hard to dislike any Chuck Berry song short of "My Dingaling"; it's just that "Roll Over" has been beaten to exhaustion and it's no particular revelation that it can be executed credibly on cello. One wishes for something more interesting, such as another traditional piece. (On the other hand, I am partial to Richard Thompson's early "Roll Over, Vaughan Williams," though only its hilarious title links it to the Berry composition.)

That complaint registered, I recommend Walls of Time not only for its outstanding company but for the further evidence it provides of the remarkable durability and malleability of traditional music. Not to mention the truly celestial reading of Bob Dylan's "Lay Down Your Weary Tune."