"On one level, if somebody asks, 'Who are you?'" says Harrison, "you're kinda like, 'What do you mean? And who cares?' But if somebody asked you over and over and over again, and you had to answer them, I think something really interesting might happen. I want to dig below the surface and write an ambitious piece that is, to some modest degree, about the time we live in. Not to be too grandiose."

Harrison is no stranger to digging deep into American roots and exposing unusual elements. Vox Americana is in large part an extension of his Free Country project, which has released two CDs of jazz takes on country songs, which also somehow manage to incorporate Indian and African musics.

While he is certainly not the first to explore jazz/country hybrids — Harrison points to Bob Wills' country swing — the Free Country experiments are unique in the way they pinpoint the alien amidst the familiar. Country and folk music, after all, are America's keenest means of self-mythologization, while jazz improv is all about immediacy and personal expression. To compare another free-thinking guitarist who often traverses similar dusty trails, Bill Frisell plays The Searchers while Harrison plays Once Upon a Time in the West.

Much like the United States itself, Harrison's integration of so many diverse cultures was unplanned, the result of various interests migrating together and finding ways to coexist. "My attitude to music has always been the same," he explains. "I was always curious to learn more. I always wanted to know more about any tradition that was exemplary in its way of communicating something."

By questioning Americans about their impressions of themselves (the other three questions: What does it mean to be an American? Where is our country headed? and What's the oldest song you know?), Harrison has created a textual Greek chorus to complement his Ellington-inspired jazz suite. He likens his use of the answers to Appalachian story-songs or murder ballads, which passed down (often bad) news while creating snapshots of truly American moments.

In a sense, Free Country and Vox Amer-icana allow Harrison the opportunity to approach his own culture's music from a fresh, unfettered outsider's perspective. "You can learn so much about America itself just through its music," he says. "So for me, those Free Country records were sort of like taking a journey through America. I think that if you put those CDs on if you're driving across the country, you'll really have a good experience."

(s_brady@citypaper.net)