Honey On My Grave is a bittersweet blues pattern played with a gentle hand. The easy tone and tempo come from Gardner's consistently strong Dobro, guitar, and vocal performances. She slides and picks her way through the Fats Waller classic, "Ain't Misbehavin'," and growls and purrs the Ray Charles chestnut "Hit The Road, Jack." She is personal and honest when she sings country ballads, and, here, the song "One Love" is a great example. Her sense of humor percolates in the tune "Caffeine," a gritty tribute to everyone's favorite addiction. Although it's a solo disc, Gardner doesn't do it alone. Matt Munisteri, Peter Carr, Benny Rietveld, Laurie MacAllister, and Pat Wictor play and sing alongside. Abbie Gardner is an inspired musician, whether she's singing with her dad, jazz piano stalwart, Herb Gardner, or doing harmonies as a member of Red Molly, the powerhouse Americana trio.

Sweet but serious, Honey On My Grave ends with the classic gospel blues nugget, "You Got To Move." In a duet, Abbie slides the Dobro with Pat Wictor, and they do Mick and Keith proud. Check out her website, www.abbiegardner.com, for liner notes and lyrics.

Continuing in his do-it-yourself tradition, Traum gathers together John Sebastian, Brother Artie, the late (and greatly missed) Mindy Jostyn, Larry Campbell, Molly Mason, Jay Ungar, Leslie Ritter, Cindy Cashdollar, Amy Fradon, and a who's-who of Woodstock-based, musically like-minded friends to play on this instantly likeable, and very listenable CD.

Laid-back and bluesy, like an autumn hike down a Bearsville back road, Happy's distinctive fingerpicking and warm, welcoming "c'mon in" vocals give a vibrant new step to the standard stepping stones through folk. Though you'll replay every track again and again, highlights for yours truly include the bouncy opener, "Blues Ain't Nothin'"; Allan Taylor's irrepressible "It's Good to See You"; "Step It Up and Go"; Paul Siebel's "Pinto Pony"; Lee Hays' "Times Are Getting Hard"; Hays' and Pete Seeger's "Empty Pocket Blues"; and Dylan's country seduction, "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You"—which Traum first heard as a Nashville Skyline rough cut in 1969. I mean, honestly, can you imagine still being fascinated by anything that far along these days? Happy Traum is, thank goodness, and he treats that vibe as something new and wonderful, not old and dusty. For further info, check out www.happytraum.com and www.roaringstreamrecords.com.

As an elemental component in both Dewey Redman's adventurous quartet and David "Fathead" Newman's soaring quintet, Menegon knows a thing or two or three about challenging his listeners. Then why do I find Soul Advice a tad too standard? Nothing startling or stiff...just standard. Given Menegon's instructor side (he holds bass workshops at SUNY New Paltz and Bard), this isn't a bad thing at all, especially if it helps to wean people off the abundance of smooth and easy-listening jazz and onto the genre's more rewarding realms.

With Menegon as bassist, producer, and main composer, his Soul Advice is, quite naturally, bass powered, creating a fluid environment for his subtle and emphatic band to entwine themselves around. Though the CD is book-ended by the two more generic sounding tracks—Menegon's "Boo Bop Bass" and, surprisingly, Thelonious Monk's ever sprightly "Monk's Dream"—guitarist Mark Dziuba, drummer Tani Tabbal, saxophonist John Gunther, and keyboardist John di Martino do stretch their chops on "Chapter One," "Mobile Infirmary," "In Sea on Land," and, with its swelling, washing crescendos, the Coltrane-ish title track. www.johnmenegon.com.