From LA.com

Bruce Cockburn has always been a restless spirit. Over the course of four decades, the celebrated Canadian artist has travelled to the corners of the earth out of humanitarian concerns often to trouble spots experiencing events that have led to some of his most memorable songs. Going up against chaos, even if it involves grave risks, can be necessary to get closer to the truth.

My mother once said that I must have a death wish, always going to what she called those awful places, laughs Cockburn. I dont think of it that way. I make these trips partly because I want to see things for myself and partly out of my own sense of adventure.

Each One Lost and Comets of Kandahar, one of five instrumentals on the album, Small Source of Comfort, stem from a trip Cockburn made to war-torn Afghanistan in 2009. The elegiac Each One Lost was written after Cockburn witnessed a ceremony honouring two young Canadian Forces soldiers who had been killed that day and whose coffins were being flown back to Canada. It was, recalls Cockburn, one of the saddest and most moving scenes Ive been privileged to witness.

Brooklyn-based violinist Jenny Scheinman is one of Bruces two female collaborators on Small Source of Comfort. Scheinman, best known for her work with Bill Frisell and Norah Jones, provides some thrilling flourishes to instrumentals like Lois on the Autobahn and the bluesy, gypsy-like swing of Comets of Kandahar, a track that Cockburn describes as Django meets John Lee Hooker.

Produced by longtime associate Colin Linden, the album also features Annabelle Chvostek, a Montreal-based singer-songwriter with whom Cockburn wrote two songs on which they also harmonize: the introspective Driving Away and the driving, freewheeling Boundless. In addition to newcomers Scheinman and Chvostek, Small Source of Comfort includes such regular Cockburn accompanists as bassist Jon Dymond, drummer Gary Craig and producer Linden, who also plays guitar.

As always, theres a spiritual side to Cockburns latest collection, best reflected on the closing Gifts, a song written in 1968 and but recorded here for the first time, and The Iris of the World, which opens the album. The latter includes the humorously rueful line, Im good at catching rainbows, not so good at catching trout.

Those songs, along with his humanitarian work, have brought Cockburn a long list of honours, including 13 Juno Awards, an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, a Governor Generals Performing Arts Award and several international awards. In 1982, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Officer in 2002.

Never content to rest on his laurels, Cockburn keeps looking ahead. Id rather think about what Im going to do next, he once said. My models for graceful aging are guys like John Lee Hooker and Mississippi John Hurt, who never stopped working till they dropped, as I fully expect to be doing, and just getting better as musicians and as human beings. Small Source of Comfort, a reflection of Cockburns ever-expanding world of wonders, is the latest step in his creative evolution.