New York City keyboards musician Dave Keyes has played in the bands of legends and near-legends -- Odetta and Bo Diddley, for two -- and as a sideman with the revered likes of Big Jay McNeely, Eddy Clearwater, Levon Helm, Tracy Nelson and Ruth Brown. That's a long-winded way of saying that with this kind of background he stands amid the most impressive blues and r&b classicists on the current scene. He's an outstanding songwriter in those genres, too.

Contrary to what you might anticipate, Two Trains does not reference the traditional "Two Trains Running" associated with Muddy Waters and many others (my own favorite version, though there are unlikely to be many bad ones, is on a Johnny Shines recording) but is one of the nine originals among 10 tracks. The sole cover is of "Worried in Mind Blues," credited to Big Bill Broonzy but surely predating him. It bears the ubiquitous "Sitting on Top of the World" melody.

As blues go, it's arguably impossible to match "Running," among the genre's foundational creations, but Keyes' is a fittingly muscular work that will give the listener no cause for complaint.

Everything here, whatever its particular spirit, is pushed forward by a studio outfit of self-confident roots veterans (e.g., drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdy, the late guitarist Woody Mann) who show up sporadically throughout the disc. The music mostly rocks in engagingly raucous, rhythmic fashion via Keyes's languid, amused vocals and playful or soulful supporting arrangements.

At the same time he handles the hurting stuff --"A Long Way from Right Right Now," which gives the impression of closeness to home, and the closer, the melancholy hymn "Rest in Peace" -- as if a heart were speaking truths.

"What Just Happened" lets us know that Keyes can write and deliver a gritty protest number with the toughest of sociopolitical observers. And can there be a more affectionate tribute to the late Levon Helm and The Band than "Trust in Love and Fate"? I doubt it.