Don't let the corny cover photos and the too-clever song titles playing on the word "dawg" throw you off. Virtuoso mandolin player David Grisman's latest, "Dawgnation," is made up of wonderful acoustic music that satisfies with a rambling, walking beat, freshness and honesty.
Though the album will probably strike first-time listeners as bluegrass, it actually comprises swing, Gypsy, flamenco, Latin and jazz in a comfortable mongrel mix that fits perfectly the label "dawg music." For those outside the worlds of bluegrass festivals and Deadheads (Grisman made a series of acoustic duet recordings with Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia), dawg music is, as the label states, 100 percent handmade acoustic music. The sound has been developing over the past three decades, but it's been five long years since Grisman's last fast-fingered "dawg music" workout.
Grisman's quintet has become something of an institution since the early '70s, launching the careers of many acoustic players such as Tony Rice, but this incarnation of the band has been together for perhaps the longest time. In addition to several types of mandolin (all played by Grisman), there is guitar, violin, flute and bass. The lack of drums gives the group's sound a lightness and spaciousness, and the quality of picking shines through.