David Bromberg and Ry Cooder have been around since the 1960s. Among the things they have in common is a vision of roots music informed by their grasp of the common language of folk, blues, country and r&b. Still, no one would ever confuse Bromberg and Cooder. Cooder's albums bear the mark of creative, sophisticated production. Bromberg's, on the other hand, are more straightforward and plainly delivered.

Big Road does that, but more so. It's recorded live in the studio with the four musicians who comprise his core band, plus a handful of others, most on horns, there for the occasion. You could make the case that it's the best David Bromberg Band album ever, understanding that many of his recordings are under his solo name -- beginning with his Columbia debut in 1971 -- and tend generally toward the acoustic.

Still, though it opens raucously with an amped-up reading of Tommy Johnson's "Big Road Blues," judged by music historian David Evans to be the ur-Delta blues, it has its quiet moments, including a medley of oldtime fiddle tunes. In the past, on more than a few occasions, Bromberg has played alongside Bob Dylan, and the original "Diamond Lil," set to nearly 11 minutes' worth of slow-rolling folk melody and elliptical discourse, exposes the more prominent artist's influence.

Or maybe not so much. Bromberg's immersion in America's grassroots musical history matches Dylan's own. They cross on the traditional "Roll on John," which both have cut, albeit in Dylan's case as two independent songs under that name, the first early in his career and not on any of his official albums, more recently the self-written one on Tempest (which I reviewed here on 6 October 2012). Gordon Bok's sailor's meditation "The Hills of Isle Au Haut" shows up here, I'm sure surprisingly to those familiar with earlier versions by Bok himself and later by Jody Stecher. Bromberg's up-tempo arrangement may take a little getting used to. If not the expected arrangement, it grows on you, or at least on me. It's nice to know that this splendid song, written in the 1960s, is available to a new generation of listeners.

The late Pat Garvey's "Lovin' of the Game" from the same era is also revisited along with Lead Belly's reworking of the Texas prison song "Take This Hammer," once upon a time in the repertoire of just about every city folk singer. Bromberg covers Charlie Rich's "Who Will the Next Fool Be?" which even in its original iteration blurred the line between country and r&b. On the other hand, Bromberg's good-natured "George, Merle & Conway" is pure cornpone country.

If Bromberg is no one's idea of a great vocalist, he makes up for it in all the ways that matter: taste, knowledge, instrumental mastery, able supporting cast. There is nothing to tire of. Each return yields a new pleasure which one is startled to have overlooked heretofore, tempting one to recall the old music critic's joke: "Better than it sounds." But of course it was always good. You just have to catch up with it.