Since he first rose to fame as a wispy-voiced troubadour of love in the late '60s — sort of a thinking person's James Taylor — Eric Andersen has matured, vocally and lyrically, into an adventurous explorer of the many faces of contemporary folk music.

In the self-penned opening cut of the baker's dozen offered here, "Eyes of the Immigrant" (RealAudio excerpt), he investigates emotional and historical journeys with the sensitive eye of a balladeer (backed by Artie Traum's understated guitar work) and then takes a turn toward funk, blues and a totally different view of history with the title track (RealAudio excerpt), which he co-wrote and performs with old friend Lou Reed.

There's the darkly introspective "Meadowlark," a rare collaboration with Townes Van Zandt which was written a decade and a half ago and has not been recorded before, and a couple of excursions into deep Delta-blues style, including "Every Once in a Pale Blue Moon" (RealAudio excerpt), which Andersen traveled to Mississippi to record with James "Super Chickan" Johnson.