I don't spend a lot of time on collection albums any more, preferring to hear more from a single artist than just sample track. However, I don't turn my nose up at them, either; when they fall into my lap, I'll give them a spin in hopes that I'll hear someone new who's worth following up on.

Celtic Colors of the World is not a stand-out album, but it's also pretty good so far as samplers go. I can't say I found any new favorites, and many of the performers here were already familiar to me, but it's still a good album that I enjoyed a great deal.

Let me give you a quick rundown of the performers featured here: Susan McKeown, Puirt a Baroque, Peter Ratzenbeck, Dervish, Ensemble Galilei, Fernhill, Brendan Begley, Johnny Cunningham & Seamus Egan, Julie Murphy & Annie Ebrel, William Jackson and O'Sullivan/Harrington/DeGrae. None of the songs and tunes here are filler, and each is drawn from various points of the Celtic world (including Wales, which is often -- unfairly -- overlooked).

Diehard fans of Celtic music will want to explore these artists individually, but newcomers to the Celtic world who want to dip their toes in the water to see what they like could do much worse.