If there’s a honky-tonk heaven, the Time Jumpers could fill its dance floor through eternity, as attested by the band’s third album, Kid Sister (out Sept. 9 on Rounder). One of the finest vocalists and guitars ever to come through the Nashville pipeline, Vince Gill can do just about anything, but here he and the stalwart band—featuring Paul Franklin on steel guitar—focus specifically on roadhouse retro, “the way things used to be,” “where country music lives again,” as Gill sings in the “Time Jumpers” theme song. Dedicated to the late Dawn Sears, who sang with the band (and whose husband Kenny teams for the classic twin fiddle sound), the album is plainly a labor of love for a band with no front man, no sidemen, and no concessions in the hope of contemporary radio play. Highlights range from ballads showcasing the pure luminosity of Gill’s voice (“I Miss You,” co-written with Ashley Monroe, the classic “Table for Two”), the obligatory steel instrumental workout (“All Aboard”), a bluesy “Sweet Rowena” that finds the normally smooth Gill pulling out all the stops and the soaring, elegiac title cut that closes the album. “Ranger” Doug Green of Riders in the Sky occasionally spells Gill on lead vocalist, and the arrangements spotlight the virtuosic interplay of the full band. The Time Jumpers were a revelation backing Willie Nelson on his recent tribute to Ray Price, but here the band really shines.
