Duke Robillard takes his brand-new, just-out-of-the-case Handy Award for Blues Guitarist as proof positive that he’s finally stepped out of the shadow of Roomful of Blues and become his own man. And, more importantly, that the public is happy about it. So he’s gone and boldly titled his latest record Explorer, as if to challenge us all to follow him as he blazes trails on the dangerous outer fringes of the blues territories. He does twelve the hard way—a dirty dozen originals, scripted by either Duke or his backing band, and ranging from the gentle piano groove of “Soulful” to the lightly-fried acoustic and sax medley of “Hang On.” The main hot spots in Duke’s new vacationland seem to be slick and rhythmically complex backporch country-blues (“Lonesome Old Town,” “Sayin’ Don’t Make It So”) and literally and metaphorically horny swing lite (“Jumpin’ With Duke,” “You Dropped The Thing On Me”).

Of course, Duke’s “Explorer” (isn’t that a vehicle, too?) never strays too far from the tried and blue, even with all his ramblin’: dig the hand jive of the opener, “Male Magnet,” and the one-two punch of the closers, the drunken shuffle “Brand New Fool” and Jerry Portnoy’s excellent “Time Is Short,” which Duke plays off legit like Charles Brown in a drinking contest with Ray Charles. Robillard may not have reached his musical destination quite yet—the styles are still showing their seams a tad—but if his catalog keeps improving in leaps and bounds like it does with Explorer, he may yet get there. After all, the guitar he holds on the front of the CD is an Explorer, as well. God bless multiple levels of meaning.