The Best of Bill Frisell, Volume 1: Folk Songs, the first collection of tunes culled from Frisell's extensive Nonesuch catalog, is out this week. You can listen to every track from the album streaming on the Nonesuch Radio channel First Listen now.

"Two words will sum up anything the exemplary guitarist has turned his hand to: 'very good,'" writes the BBC's Chris Jones. "But when it comes to his explorations in Americana as on this collection, it's very very good. If you don't already own most of these tracks, beware. Because when you do hear them you'll have to go out and buy all the parent albums that they're culled from."

Jones sees Frisell's move in the late 1980s to Nonesuch as the turning point from shredding session guitarist to "something gentler but also purer." And yet, Frisell's willingness to perform beyond the simplistic purity of cut-and-dry categories, and surround himself with other artists, like Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner, who would do the same, is "what makes Frisell's work so timeless and quintessentially American. It combines bluegrass, jazz, folk, and, yes huge dollops of country." His songs, says Jones, "all sound like they were born in wide open spaces and are as much a part of the landscape as the mountains and streams."

The reviewer concludes by reiterating his warning: "Once acquired, Bill's a hard habit to break."

Read the review at bbc.co.uk. Listen to the album at Nonesuch Radio.

Bill celebrates the album's release on his home turf of Seattle in two shows Wednesday night at the Triple Door with fellow guitarist Russell Malone. For information on upcoming dates, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.