When your guitarist has a music degree and your bassist has toured with Victor Wooten, you can at least be sure that no one will fault your band for slouch musicianship. That's That may be one of the best-played albums we've reviewed this month -- Doug Birmingham's buttery fusion drums provide an engaging backbone for loquacious guitar, bass and piano. However, as with many artists whose slick chops voice themselves in a daring-on-paper, predictable-in-reality folk/funk/reggae/blues/rock/jazz gumbo, Blue James Band frequently indulge in flagrant flashes of skill for skill's sake, which is symptomatic of a greater problem: unbridled earnestness. The album constantly attempts to convince you of its soulfulness and authenticity, both musically and lyrically, and while its insecurity makes it difficult to listen to, the girl to whom "baby I'm sorry" heart-melters like "I Can Relate" are addressed will appreciate the sincerity more deeply. By the same token, the album's innocence and purity makes its misguided assertions of "realness" easier to stomach than, say, John Mayer's.