Capturing voices redolent of history, smoke, rain and wisdom, Danko/Fjeld/Andersen unites three extraordinary veteran singers. And with its 12 cuts epitomizing the stylistic range and artistic command only long experience makes easy and convincing, the album blends three distinct rich musical traditions as well.

Playing bass at 17 for rockabilly belter Ronnie Hawkins, Canadian Rick Danko was schooled in the roadhouse poetry of blues-inflected country fare. Later, as bassist-vocalist for the Band, he lent fire and dignity to Robbie Robertson's twilit American myths. One of the most substantive stars of the Greenwich Village folk boom in the '60s, Eric Andersen wrote some of that period's finest songs ("Violets of Dawn" and "Thirsty Boots," among them) and went on to release 16 albums, of which Blue River (1972), Stages: The Lost Album (released in 1991, though it was recorded in the '70s as a follow-up to Blue River) and Ghosts Upon the Road (1989) are masterworks.

Andersen recorded Ghosts Upon the Road in 1989 after a move to Norway, where he met singer-guitarist Jonas Fjeld, a regional legend noted for a best-selling collaboration with poet Ole Paus. Andersen's own ancestry is Norwegian, and it was his inspired idea to employ Hallvard Bjorgum on Hardanger fiddle (Norway's national instrument) on D/F/A. Particularly on the instrumental "Judgment Day," the Hardanger sparks a fierce archaic resonance. Guest appearances elsewhere on the album by the Band's Garth Hudson and the Oslo Gospel Choir also enliven the solid, subtle work of the Norwegian players who back up the trio.

But, apart from all that musicological background, it's the vision and voices of its three principals that make this album shimmer. With the singers alternating lead and harmony vocals, performances range from Danko's wry take on the '50s New Orleans rocker "Sick and Tired" to his keening, movingly evocative rendition of Andersen's "Blue River." Lovely, raspy, deep, Fjeld's delivery of "Angels in the Snow" balances strength and wistfulness – he also shines on the dreamlike "When Morning Comes to America," a vision of the new world from Europe, and "One More Shot," a stirring outlaw saga sung from the perspective of Jesse James.

Andersen, the most elegant of the singers, displays his usual tender handling of ballads (his own "Mary I'm Comin' Back Home," Tom Paxton's "Last Thing on My Mind"), and "Wrong Side of Town," which he cowrote with Fjeld, is powered by the singular mix of irony and high romanticism that fuels his classic work.

Bringing back two of popular music's most poetic singers and introducing another bardic voice to American ears, Danko/Fjeld/Andersen is ultimately, no matter what style its singers choose, soul music of deep and lasting appeal. (RS 674)

PAUL EVANS