Self-proclaimed American Songster and former Carolina Chocolate Drop Dom Flemons adds country-and-western crooner to his résumé on Traveling Wildfire. 

But fear not, fans, Flemons still dives headlong into music from the Delta on such tracks as “Big Money Blues,” “Nobody Wrote It Down” and “Rabbit Foot Rag” and, in a delightful turn of events, channels modern Bob Dylan’s rural, moody blues on “It’s Cold Inside.” There’s no chorus and the title is the first – rather than the last – line of four of the eight verses. 

“It’s cold inside/there’s a bird singing a song/and it seems to remind me/that no matter where I go/I just don’t belong,” Flemons sings over the sparse, underproduced melody. 

An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, Flemons plays guitar, banjo, harmonica, bass, rhythm bones, jug and various implements of percussion on Traveling Wildfire and gets assists from Sam Bush on Dylan’s “Guess I’m Doing Fine” and James Fearnley on the rollicking, accordion-driven instrumental “Songster Revival,” which closes the album. 

The C&W material is front-loaded, as Flemons waltzes on “Slow Dance with You” and weeps alongside pedal steel on “If You Truly Love Me.” It’s as if he’s saying, “I’ve got yet another trick,” before turning back to more traditional fare.