The promo statement pronounces From the Dirt an "Americana band." A proposed genre concoction that caused a minor stir some years ago, Americana was a thing that didn't go anywhere probably because nobody could define it and soon grew bored with the effort. To me it amounted to acoustic pop making larger claims for itself while falling short of being anything of consequence, in fact simply a transparent attempt to manufacture an edifice out of the effusions of singer-songwriters without a whole lot to say or much grounding in the deeper traditions of American vernacular music.

As a friend presciently observed at the beginning of it all, "These guys are just rockers who can't afford bands." (In fairness, of course, there are honorable exceptions.)

From the Dirt, a four-member outfit based in central Maryland, deserves a more robust genre designation. To start with, it sounds as if has come from somewhere -- in other words, from genuine folk and bluegrass, or maybe a more interesting iteration of the country-rock that briefly threatened to replace psychedelia way back in the days when some hippies got the bright idea to transform themselves into hillbillies.

Colored Edge of Memory, however, sets out to do something else, and with unexpected appeal. Admittedly, no one would call it hard-core anything. In fact, one easily imagines a road Simon & Garfunkel did not take, namely one that twists and turns out of the valleys and mountains of Appalachia.

Up from Dirt performs originals, all composed by acoustic guitarist Daniel Kenny, who like Paul Simon has a gift for memorable melody and lyric, except that Kenny and associates resonate more as defectors from smart bluegrass and Irish outfits, all literate speakers of folk music. The fiddle plays a prominent role, and so does an occasional banjo, alongside soft urban harmonies which, if your memory stretches back far enough, may call to mind the finest of the folk-pop groups (e.g., the Journeymen, the Highwaymen) of the early 1960s.

There are plenty of reflective songs, many lamenting time's passing, appropriately so since From the Dirt is making no noticeable attempt to be cool and fashionable; rather, it seeks to carry forward the vision of an almost otherworldly rural landscape without being mopey about it. To their eternal credit, these guys also boast an endearing humor. There must be one somewhere, but my memory fails to surrender a comic song about bluegrass. If you'd like one in your life, "Train Wreck at the Bluegrass Jam" will have you on the floor.