HOME AGAIN: Fiddler Ivan Strunin released his whopping 15-track album The First Day of December earlier this year, but even before then, his list of Athens-area collaborators would make similar roots-folk-blues-jazz artists green with jealousy. There’s not room to include them all, but you can count Susan Staley and Maggie Mason Hunter (Solstice Sisters) and Tommy Jordan among them. His new album features the mind boggling lineup of Strunin, Dirk Powell, Michael Doucet, Trey Boudreaux, Jimmy Breaux, Cedric Watson and Amelia Powell. You can read the story of how this all came to be on his website. The record begins with the hot boogie of “Zydeco Minor Swing,” and it’s a foot stomper to be sure. The sweetly delivered, Powell-composed title track comes next. Other, specific highlights for me are the funky “Fire On The Bayou,” “La Fille de Quatorze Ans” and “I Already Know the Blues.” People, there’s not a single dud nor dead spot on this whole album. This is available as a digital download or compact disc over at ivanstrunin.bandcamp.com, and for more information, please see ivanonthefiddle.com.

From the Flagpole