Troubadour of a different stripe Robin Williamson made a handful of records for ECM, this being his third. On The Iron Stone, he carries over viola player Mat Maneri and fellow multi-instrumentalist Ale Möller from his last effort and plays for the first time alongside bassist Barre Phillips in settings of Sirs Walter Raleigh and Thomas Wyatt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Clare, and Williamson himself. From the crucible of all this, he sips molten poetry, aged to perfection like the gravelly voice that bears his name. Originals like “To God In God’s Absence” are profound contributions to song.