Keep an Eye Out

Mixing Appalachian folksiness with a more contemporary roots rock veneer, Jeff Krebs makes Americana in its most honest and well-crafted forms. Cool Wurlitzer-driven pop tunes mix with more solemn acoustic singer/songwriter material, as Krebs shows an expert hand at blending traditional instrumentation and themes with a more modern songwriting sensibility. Even certain folk music motifs are mixed and matched, with Spanish music crossed with surf music on "­¡Extravagaria!" and Turkish clarinet turning up on "Tango Delle Rose." Overall, Krebs is a consistently engaging and unpredictable artist who never settles in one spot long enough to let you know exactly where he's going next, yet manages to leave the listener with a fully developed impression of what sets him apart from the majority of his contemporaries. That's enough to make it likely that Keep an Eye Out will be only the first course in what should prove to be an interesting career.