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"Music is now what I do exclusively," he says. "My business was about working with big landowners and doing conservation easements on their land, and now that's done. The restoration projects I was doing are done. I can finally focus on my music above all else. That feels good." And it sounds even better. Produced by Marty Grebb, Wilderness weaves 12 tracks into a vivid tapestry. Each song speaks eloquently on its own, its message elevated by musicians such as Grebb on multiple instruments, steel guitarist James Pennebaker, harmonica virtuoso Mickey Raphael and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member James Burton guesting on guitar. Each player knows how to connect with and release the soul of a great song; no better example of their artistry exists than on Wilderness.

As different as each song is, they share themes, the most obvious being a fascination with being on the move. On "Rainy Day," we eavesdrop on a customer at a diner, beckoning a waitress to leave with him on his bike in search of something beyond her sad routine. On "All I Really Want," we meet a fisherman at the end of a long voyage, wanting nothing more than to return to his family and recover "what we really had," though the fatalism he brings back from the sea casts doubt on whether he can attain his dream. "Angry Town" evokes somewhere left behind more in shadow than light through cryptic mention of two unread letters - yet this is all Riviere needs to convey the essences of regret and heartbreak.

The sense of journey amplifies through mention of places and events that have special resonance. A family leaves the Carolinas to "head for Ohio on the Wilderness Road" and far beyond, on "Destination Unknown." The first apprehensions of a cause already lost haunt the thoughts of a Southern soldier near the end of the Civil War on "Alkali/Cold Harbor." A more optimistic veteran of that conflict rushes Westward, drawn by visions of open land and a girl who forecasts of "all we can do under these blue mountain skies" on "Three Rivers."

"The landscape is my metaphor," Riviere explains. "This land, this world, is real and it's breathing. That's why, to me, this album is a lot like coming home. It takes me back to when I was a kid, living with my family in the country. It's really where I want to be now. It's where I learned to really appreciate wildlife and the landscape they depend on, and this is also where I began my musical journey." Balancing raw roots rock and wistful nostalgia, telling compelling stories in musical settings that feel both immediate and timeless, Wilderness makes clear that Riviere's full-time commitment to music opens the place long reserved for him as a modern balladeer, informed by history in peering toward the promise that still beckons even through uncertain times.

Riviere probably sums up the message of Wilderness better than anyone could, with a single line from its buoyant rockabilly shuffle, "Little Walk": "I guess what I'm telling you is there's something left to find."

- Robert Doerschuk

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That search begins
with Wilderness
and leads as far
as imagination
allows.

Now Playing: "Destination Unknown" from Wilderness CD