The last two issues of the monthly Bluegrass Unlimited report that Red Camel Collective's self-titled disc is at No. 1 on the bluegrass charts. I am not sure what this tells us, if anything, about the current state of the genre. I guess we'll find out. The name, however, sounds like one might associate with a 1960s West Coast psychedelic rock band. In truth, its reference is a more downhome one: Red Camel brand overalls and the Junior Sisk Band song "The Man in Red Camels," concerning an aged farmer plowing his field.

Not coincidentally, Red Camel Collective is a side project for the four young to early middle-aged individuals who ordinarily comprise Sisk's band, which last time I heard it dealt -- very nicely -- in traditional bluegrass. RCC doesn't particularly.

Heather Berry Mabe, who does the bulk of the lead vocals (and composes most of the songs), sings in a country-pop voice more than a little reminiscent of Allison Krauss's, if Mabe is marginally less inclined to choose as her subject the piercing romantic angst with which Krauss is so openly enamored. Such is hardly absent, however. In any event, while both artists know their way around a song, sometimes bluegrass feels more a jumping-off place than a primary focus.

On the other hand, an older style of bluegrass bubbles up on occasion, as when mandolinist Jonathan Dillon ably tackles "Leavin' You and Mobile Too," composed by prolific genre hacks Leroy Drumm and Pete Goble and nodding to just about every cliche we traditionalists want to hear. Yes, it's formulaic, but for us in the hardcore, it's the old home place. The same can be said of Dave Hall/Louis Redding's "Night Coach Out of Dallas," this time with the singing handled, again ably, by banjo player Tony Mabe.

What more can one say than that this is a well-executed album put together by first-rate pickers? I suppose I should add that your feeling about it will not hang on any quarrel with its quality, which is undeniable. Rather, your enthusiasm will likely align with your taste for modernist approaches in a genre that has traveled many a musical mile since Bill Monroe invented it in 1939.