**1/2 Natalie MacMaster

IN MY HANDS

(Rounder)

Young trad musicians -- especially fiddlers, it seems -- are steadily succumbing to the allure of broader vistas. Mark O'Connor steers himself toward Coplandesque fantasias, Alison Krauss mines Something/Anything for ideas rather than traipse through another year of "Orange Blossom Special," and on her most "modern" album ever, Cape Breton prodigy Natalie MacMaster futzes with funk. "I see your shape and I'm attracted/I touch your neck and I'm tempted" aren't the lyrics of the old-time parlor music with which MacMaster made her mark, and yet they seem natural rolling off her tongue. Maybe something from Dirty Mind next time out?

But breathe easy, tradsters -- the fiddler's not leaving you in the dust. Studio pros from both Nashville and Toronto may take these reels and jigs into a place where Peter Gabriel has just as much clout as Joe Cormier, but the basic language of Celtspeak is left intact. In fact, pop's main impact on In My Hands is a bright sound mix and an aggressive performance esthetic. Further, the lively, willful bastardizations of "Flamenco Fling" and "Space Céilidh" suggest MacMaster and company could make it on the jam-band circuit. For a musician as ambitious as this youngster, hanging with the Phishmeisters could be a logical next step.

(Natalie MacMaster plays the Berklee Performance Center this Saturday, November 13. Call 876-4275.)

-- Jim Macnie