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Joe Sundell’s latest album, Ramblin’ Mind, covers a lot of ground in its 11 tracks. + Enlarge

The history of popular music is filled with ramblers. Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers — each of these legends wrote, played and sang about rambling.

Through the years, tales of loving wandering from place to place with no particular route or destination in mind have found themselves in a wide swath of genres, from heavy metal to hip-hop. But this certain rambling fever is still found most often in those genres of music under the Americana umbrella. There’s a certain something about hitting the road that is uniquely rural and sounds better with acoustic instruments.

Enter Joe Sundell, a former Arkansas native, who has already started rambling, relocating to Austin, Texas, in February 2010. Sundell, a talented musician who has played with bands such as Damn Bullets, Molaro for Illinois, Corey Cross and the Good Ole Band, and Sad Daddy, addresses the wandering spirit of his soul with his first solo album, the aptly titled Ramblin’ Mind.

It’s an album punklike in its brevity, with the record’s 11 tracks clocking in just seconds over 30 minutes. Every tune except the nearly six-minute “That’ll Never Happen No More” clocks in at under three minutes. Sundell quickly arrives at his point, tells his tale, makes it shake and gets out of Dodge.

Even in its conciseness, Ramblin’ Mind is a masterful album, filled with Sundell’s skillful banjo and harmonica playing, and his gruff but soulful vocals, even when he mimics a party girl looking for a good time on the Blind Blake cover “That’ll Never Happen No More.” Sundell also contributes guitar on some tracks, and is joined by Melissa Carper (a member of Sundell’s Sad Daddy) on vocals and bass, Chris Peterson on fiddle and Alex Moore on drums. Ramblin’ Mind was recorded by Moore at Lunchroom Audio in Buda, Texas, earlier this year and produced by Sundell and Moore.

Sundell is responsible for writing five of the album’s tracks, and co-writes two more — “Who Raised the Wind” and “No Wheels” — with help from Little Rock musician Paul Morphis (written when the two were members of Damn Bullets). Beyond the aforementioned Blake cover, the album is completed with the traditional “Across the Ocean,” and covers of Elizabeth Cotten’s “Freight Train” and Mississippi John Hurt’s “Richland Woman Blues.” (Hurt is another legend who knew a thing or two about rambling.)

Ramblin’ Mind is a standout catalogue of Arkansas-bred, via Austin, Americana sound, filled with broad strokes of ragtime, Texas swing, bluegrass, folk, rock ‘n’ roll and even a little blues and jazz. It’s an album about leaving, tapping into the restlessness of the human experience.

Sundell kicks off the album with the fiddle and banjo romp “Ramblin’ Mind,” introducing listeners to the subject matter at hand with the opening line: “I was always one for leaving/One to hit the road and fly/I just can’t be still/When I got some time to kill.” Carper’s vocals fall in line with Sundell, and she and Moore provide a thumping rhythm as Sundell denies wandering makes him lonely before Peterson adds a majestic fiddle solo.

The album as a whole is a front-porch classic of Americana music. Sundell ends each chorus of “How Long Must I Wait” with a deep wail of harmonica; “That’ll Never Happen No More” is rich in its imagery of lighting reefer, drinking gin and falling for seductive women while at a party. “Who Raised the Wind,” which Sundell penned with the help of Morphis, is meditative folk rock, with Sundell’s acoustic guitar ringing under questions such as “Who raised the night/And cast the day asunder?”

As great as a songwriter, musician and singer Sundell is, the addition of Carper, Moore and Peterson only highlight his splendid tunes. The countrified beauty of “How Long Must I Wait” is only intensified by the addition of Carper’s harmony vocals. Moore guides the house-rattling stomp of “Make It Roll” with his shuffling, click-clacking drums, and Peterson creates elegance each time he puts bow to fiddle. It’s the perfect combination.

Even on the tunes with no lyrics, Sundell and crew invoke that high lonesome feel, creating beautiful music that only stimulates the imagination. It’s impossible listening to “The Dancing Girl,” with Peterson’s fiddle guiding the way, and not picture a whirling woman on a sun-drenched spring afternoon in some Appalachian hollow. It’s a tune with a lovely sway, and Peterson shines on it, seesawing back and forth over Sundell’s steady banjo line.

Ramblin’ Mind is an album about wandering that never drags its feet. It rambles in the most beautiful way possible, guiding the listener through 11 slices of Americana music magic. Sometimes it stomps. Sometimes it drifts. But it’s a freewheeling gem of an album and the reflection of a rambling spirit.

SEE THE SHOW:

Find Ramblin’ Mind at Joe Sundell’s website at www.joesundell.com. While you can travel to Jonesboro, Fayetteville and Hot Springs to see Sundell this week, June 18 he will be playing at Pizza D’Action in Little Rock with the music starting around 9:30 p.m. with a $3 cover.