Bringing it on Blind Man's Hill

If you closed your eyes during the guitar solo in The Bridge's "Devil On Me," you might think you were listening to the precise picking of Jerry Garcia, not Cris Jacobs.

While it's not Garcia's fretwork, it's no surprise to hear Jacobs channeling the man. As far as jam band influence goes, The Bridge has always leaned more toward Grateful Dead than Phish.

On Blind Man's Hill, the band's third album, The Bridge emulates Garcia and Co. more than ever, but still manages to further foster its own Baltimore-bred sound.

Still, apart from "Devil on Me," you can hear shades of the Dead in the frantically picked "Dirtball Blues," the harmonies of "Bury My Bones in Baltimore" and the lap guitar-soaked "Born Ramblin." The latter three - penned by mandolinist Kenny Liner - recall Workingman's Dead and American Beauty while the former - a Jacobs tune - is a bit more Aoxoamoxoa.

As the singers shift, so do the styles. Jacobs fronts eight of the 12 cuts, with Liner covering the remaining four. Liner's songs all have a fast-paced bluegrass edge, something his voice is better suited for. Jacob's soothing and soulful vocals work best when the band funks it up ("Honey Bee"), rocks out ("Diggin' in the Cold Ground") or tackles the ballad ("Lasting Hymn").

And it's not like Liner is a crutch, though his lyricism bogs the band down at times. He's just hard to adjust to at first when you're accustomed to Jacobs handling the majority of the vocals. The only other recorded Liner vocal contribution is "Chains" on self-titled The Bridge.

Liner's biggest offense comes on "Born Ramblin" as he sings, in his pseudo-southern drawl, about a failed relationship in the most blunt terms imaginable: "Then one night she got out of bed/ Went into Greg's room and she gave him head/ That was the end of that one."

Liner gets credit, however, for the down-home bar jam, "Dirtball Blues," a duet between Liner and Jacobs. The song feels like an actual backyard jam, with the pair trading vocals and licks with ease.

The album's biggest surprise comes in Liner leaving his - and the band's - secret weapon out of the studio this time, as no songs feature Liner beat boxing. Perhaps the band finally decided it was a bit too gimmicky, or maybe it just didn't fit the disc's roots rock vibe, but to a fan, the omission is noticeable. Whether it's missed or not is debatable.

It's not only the lack of beat boxing that will surprise die-hard fans - only four songs were road-tested prior to recording, making most of these new to all ears. One, "Heavy Water," features a jam where the band sounds like Phish covering Talking Heads (you'll get it if you've heard Phish cover "Crosseyed and Painless," and if not, now's your chance to dig it up). It's also one of the record's best.

It's interesting (or perhaps convenient) to conjure up so many Dead and Phish references in regard to Blind Man's Hill - both bands will tour for the first time since 2004 this spring - but make no mistake, The Bridge isn't some third-rate jam band knockoff. Songs such as "Poison Wine," "Let Me Off This Train" and "Old White Lightning 95" all display different elements of what define the band's individual sound.

"Poison Wine" is the hard-rocking, lap guitar-driven southern Bridge with Jacobs really letting his voice howl over a blues-based riff (see also: "Diggin In The Cold Ground").

Then there's "Old White Lightning 95," which is soaked in all things New Orleans, perhaps The Bridge's heaviest regional influence. Ragtime with a funky Jacobs solo, Patrick Rainey's saxophone and Liner's mandolin - it doesn't get much more classic Bridge than that.

Blind Man's Hill may also be the most fully realized Bridge album yet. It's the first to feature the band's new six-man lineup, thanks to the spring addition of keyboardist Mark Brown, with now-tenured members Rainey and drummer Mike Gambone joining in the studio as well. It's a natural progression from the under-produced Cross Street Market and 2006's solid self-titled release.

If anything, Blind Man's Hill's faults lie in the band's occasionally derivative nature. The Bridge isn't exactly pushing new sonic ground, just furthering the traditions of American roots music as it continues to establish a sound of its own.

Blind Man's Hill isn't a revelation by any means, but it's about as solid a studio effort as you get from a band in the jam scene - and really, you can't ask for much more.

rudi.greenberg@gmail.com

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.