Colorado-based folk-blues exponent Viesselman's independently-released 2000 CD, 'Many Rivers', was a wiry, spontaneous debut, the fruits of six months on the road, driving, hitching, and writing. It introduced a writer with a fine line in wry observation, unpretentious acoustic guitar skills, and, above all, a voice quite at odds with his relatively tender years - a road-worn, wizened but expressive affair that seems to embody his past life as a trapper, sailor, mountain guide, and farmhand. Kreg's in a line of descent through the blue-collar hobo/troubadour tradition of the sixties and early seventies, figures like Jack Elliot, Jaime Brockett, and Ron Davies (for those with long memories!). Tellingly, he comes with strong endorsements from both Taj Mahal and Ellis Paul. 
'Kreg Viesselman' is a quantum leap forward: at less than 40 minutes it's a concise album, but each of the ten songs is a self-contained gem, and the warm production brings out the best in his excellent, mainly Colorado-based, acoustic sidemen. Upright bass, unobtrusive drums, consistently wonderful slide guitar, violin, cello, accordion, and piano are all employed with restraint - a couple of songs are all but solo. The up-tempo opener 'New Hampshire Snow' (with great Taj Mahal-style harmonica break from Viesselman) and the delicately finger-picked 'Raccoon Song' show his bluesier side; 'The Return' is a wry lovelorn paean with a touching vocal cameo appearance from fellow regional singer-songwriter Rebecca Beacher; while 'Tom's Last Words' is a Celtic knees-up complete with penny whistle. By contrast, 'Gone to Lewiston' and 'Rain Clouds & Burns Bros.' are classic reflective road songs from a man torn between love and the need to move on. The album closes with the beautiful 'Jordan's Shore', a dark gospel soul song of weary resignation featuring bubbling organ and heart-wrenchingly great slide guitar that has this reviewer reaching for the replay button every time - an instant sepia-toned classic. 
If you like your singer-songwriters with a little dirt under their fingernails and dust on their boots, this fine little CD deserves your attention.

£13.49