I've said it before and I'll say it again: if grandaddy rock isn't dead, then the blues surely are. Yes, the occasional artist-cum-conservationist pops up with fine chops and a good heart, but the vitality of the music has long since passed. Today the blues aren't much more than a faded platinum print hung on the staircase to the dingy basement of the house of popular music -- a nondescript, decorative image with a story that nobody remembers. We've romanticized the era and lionized the players, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that many of the most vital (and otherwise) blues vocals have begun to adorn pop songs like so many gold chains that spell out "credibility". Predictable three-chord progressions come and go, but voices like Leadbelly and Lightning Hopkins don't come around much anymore. Of My Native Land ventures into this familiar NPR territory and plays it safe, opting for accommodating, mid-tempo beats and routine tunes. Conrad Praetzel's arrangements are nothing if not precise and professional, utilizing a fair number of the electronic and acoustic tools at his disposal, and he even ventures away from his more familiar ambient roots. Ultimately, however, these are sleek, modern frames for crusty old themes that would be best left unadorned.

While the recording is entertaining if a little lackluster, there are bright spots: Tom Armstrong's vocal on "Ramblin' Man" is arresting and impassioned. Likewise, "My Home is Not a Home" is suitably dirge-like, a decaying body dredged from a murky swamp by the force of his voice alone. "Story About William Riley Shelton" provides a nice narration by Doug Wallin, and "Pullin' the Skiff" includes a brief interaction between vocalist Ora Dell Graham and John Lomax. If Of My Native Land does nothing but prompt listeners to dig up some of these exciting original sources, it should be considered a success.