Incidents & Accidents

The best tracks on British singer and banjo player Dan Walsh's previous album, The Same but Different, were its solo numbers, so it's gratifying that he has returned with a predominantly unaccompanied recording. His muscular, surefooted playing is at the forefront of Incidents & Accidents, a set of mostly self-penned songs and instrumentals. Drawing from English folk, Scottish jigs and reels, Country and bluegrass – and even Indian classical music – Walsh provides a banjo masterclass of lightning picking and multi-layered riffs.

The handful of guest appearances add textural variety. Patsy Reid plays some fine fiddle lines on the dance-like ‘Wobbly Trolley’. Canadian vocalist Meaghan Blanchard adds a lustrous second voice to Darrell Scott's country classic ‘With a Memory like Mine’ and to ‘Only Way to Go’. His other pieces are mixed. The gutsy and bluesy ‘Time to Stay’ sparkles with confidence. Instrumentals ‘Lost Rambler’ and ‘Whiplash Reel’ romp with appropriate abandon. But the ballads, such as ‘The Song Always Stays’, do not have quite the same harmonic or melodic impact as the faster numbers. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable, balanced collection of banjo wizardry.