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Nickel Creek: 'Why Should the Fire Die?'
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"Why Should the Fire Die?" Sugar Hill. 14 tracks.

Grade: B

Nickel Creek's third and best album, "Why Should the Fire Die?" draws the listener closer than ever (but still not close enough) to the rambunctious approach the Americana trio takes in concert.

Although the band's sound remains a playful modernization of traditional bluegrass, Nickel Creek supplements its guitar-mandolin-violin setup here with Mark Schatz's bass. One tune, "Helena," goes a step further and resolves itself with an earful of crashing drums — a rarity for this band, whose studio work tends to be quiet and tasteful.

A lovely Bob Dylan cover, "Tomorrow Is a Long Time," is textbook Nickel Creek. As is "Doubting Thomas," an introspective piece that represents the band's continuing willingness to push out the confining walls of bluegrass.

Most exciting, though, is "Stumptown." It's a sprightly instrumental typical of the kind of excursions that drive the band's live show but are still too infrequent on record. This tune offers up 1:43 of squeaky-clean picking, carried off with pizzazz and pluck.

— Nick Marino