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Dobro man in demand No one is benefiting from the local surge in American roots folk more than Tim Kelly, who plays a resonating slide guitar called a Dobro - a staple in bluegrass and old-timey music. A few years ago, a Dobro player in the Boston folk scene would have been as lonely as a bagpiper at a Mozart festival, but these days all Kelly has to do is wander into Tir na Nog, Toad, Plough and Stars, or the Lizard Lounge, and he's likely to be invited onstage. He is in Alastair Moock's band, Bad Moock Rising, the rock band Grits, a roots-reggae band called Organically Grown, and he regularly accompanies the solo shows of Delmhorst, Colleen Sexton, and several other hot local songwriters. Kelly, 29, came up through the rock scene, but said its often cutthroat competitiveness drove him off. In 1994, he heard a CD of Dobro master Jerry Douglas, and loved its bluesy, slippery sound. "What's attractive to me about more old-time rootsy music is that it lacks pretension," he said. "The way this music is played, people just getting together to jam, is separate from the idea of trying to be a unique voice and attract attention to yourself as the Big New Face on the music scene. The focus is on just the enjoyment of the playing." - S.A.

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