Eric Bibb is such a genial, easy-going performer that it's easy to overlook his importance. One of the finest black American exponents of acoustic blues, he was brought up in New York (where his father, Leon, played a key role in the radical 50s folk scene) but spent much of his life in Scandinavia. Now he has travelled to Louisiana to expand his range to include Creole and country influences, with a set that has the slinky, rhythmic charm of JJ Cale. Bibb's understated guitar work and soulful vocals are finely matched by a band that includes Louisiana multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell on banjo, fiddle, mandolin and accordion, Creole fiddler Cedric Watson, harmonica virtuoso Grant Dermody and dobro star Jerry Douglas, while the songs range from old gospel and folk favourites Sinner Man and Boll Weevil to Taj Mahal's Every Wind in the River, and Bibb's own Bayou Babe and Sittin' in a Hotel Room. There's little to startle or disturb, but it's a classy, laid-back set.