Like a high-fidelity rendering of the Old West, Paul Reece’s The Lucky Guy Instrumentals takes listeners to a place they probably have never been before, but nonetheless have mapped out perfectly in their heads. And it is a place that is sure easy to get to—tunes like “Love Built That Cabin” and “All Folked Up” eschew the gritty flair of classic Americana in favor of a smoother and more accessible interpretation of roots music. Try compressing a porch in Appalachia to a three-and-half-megabyte digital file and you might begin to understand the spatial and emotional locus of The Lucky Guy Instrumentals.

Despite its sheen, The Lucky Guy Instrumentals is compelling in its consistent. Although most of the melodies and arrangements could have been plucked directly from a country/bluegrass fake book, they nonetheless evoke the warmth and familiarity of a bygone era. Reece uses modern recording technology to convey a pre-modern sensibility—one that knows what is “right” and pays no mind to the pluralism and pretensions of contemporary popular music. And it works: there is not a single difficult moment across all twelve tracks. The only major curveball comes from the final song, “Say Yes Again To Love”, which exchanges acoustic timbres for synthetic ones, and veers dangerously towards the insipid.

Ultimately, one might ask: why would someone go to the trouble to faithfully rerecord music that was done best over half a century ago? This question can be easily answered with a quick, “because it sounds nice”, but perhaps it is best left without a response. Reece’s simple achievement is his willingness to retread familiar ground in order to highlight the forgotten charms of timeless music, and a careful listen of The Lucky Guy Instrumentals invariably settles any uncertainty that surrounds it. Check this album out if you’re interested in that strangely recognizable place where standards are standard and the critical eye remains shut in order dream.