Live and lively

Ann Arbor-based group the Appleseed Collective is certainly a folk band, but it doesn’t take the preservation society approach common to many folk bands. The group specializes in writing new music that sounds old, drawing on a wide variety of American traditions. On its latest album, “Live at the Ark,” you can hear the influence of Gypsy jazz, Southern blues, ragtime, zydeco and bluegrass, all mixed together into what the band calls “an amalgam of complementary and contrasting elements.”

The source of much of this album’s considerable energy is its dueling instrumental virtuosi, Andrew Brown on guitar and Brandon Smith on violin. Most of the songs are structured in a typical bluegrass style — a main song featured at the beginning and the end book-ending solos by Brown and/or Smith.

That isn’t to say the rest of the band isn’t pulling its weight. Katie Lee takes a few impressive solos on banjo and also weighs in on lead vocals on “After You’ve Gone,” “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” and “Dinah.”

“Here’s one for the tip jar,” quips Brown before the band launches into “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” a ballad that Lee milks for all the sultry smokiness she can squeeze out of it.

The lineup on this album is rounded out by bassist Ben Rolston and percussionist Vince Russo. Rolston provides the perfect harmonic underpinning for the group’s instrumental adventures, and Russo keeps things chugging along on an off-kilter percussion set-up comprising a washboard — tricked out with bells and cymbals — and a kick drum. While some zydeco recordings are almost intolerable because of constant clumsy washboard scratching, Russo works his contraption with uncommon dexterity and finesse.

(Since this album was recorded, the band’s roster has changed. Lee moved to New York to pursue a solo career, and Rolston has been replaced by bassist Eric Dawe.)

The album’s opening tune, “Periwinkle Blues,” sets the tone for the rest of the album. An ominous intro — featuring Brown’s vocal line moving in parallel with a minor key violin riff, underpinned by sinister bass notes and percussion flourishes — leads directly into an bouncy major key blues. Brown’s lyrics mirror this sad/happy contrast.

“I’m so sad because I love you,” Brown sings. “You make me so happy that I’m blue all the time.”

On the album’s second track, “Bad Man,” the group navigates a tricky instrumental introduction with all the precision of a well-seasoned bebop quintet. Brown and Smith make the jagged, Gypsy-jazz inspired melody seem effortless, and the rest of the band backs them up with tight rhythmic outbursts.

The band’s humor is also on display here, both in Brown’s deadpan banter between songs and his playful lyrical content.”

“This next song is about love. It’s about marriage. It’s about that sweet little girl. And it’s about kidnapping,” says Brown as the band gears up for the bluegrass-flavored “Lookee’ for a Reason.”

Brown has a serious side too, though, as evidenced by tracks like “The Inability to Feel,” a meandering, dream-like meditation on love.

“The inability to feel, smell and taste, see and hear you — it’s what drives me mad,” Brown sings over a descending chord progression.

Other highlights of the album include “Sisyphit,” a quirky track based on the myth of Sisyphus.

“Never gonna stop, never gonna stop pushin’ that rock,” sings Smith on his only lead vocal appearance on this album.

The band ends the album with its take on an early jazz chestnut, “Sweet Georgia Brown.” Even when the Appleseed Collective covers an old tune, the band manages to put its own spin on it.

“It’s gonna start slow and end fast and get really funky in the middle,” says Brown, accurately describing the course the nine-minute track will take to close out the album.

The Appleseed Collective

With Rachel & Alex 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29 The Loft 414 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing (517) 913-0103, theloftlansing.com