BRUCE DALZELL SHOULD get a lifetime achievement award for finding, encouraging and recording local artists. He's just released the fourth installment of his "Athens County Block" series, which showcases four local SSWs on each CD.

The latest album features Rebecca Rossiter, Bill Mullins, Erin Cameron-McElroy, and Zeb Dewar, and may be the best batch yet.

Cameron-McElroy's music is pure and stark, just a strummed guitar, two voices (hers and Jody Schaub's) blending on simple melodies and lyrics about bluebirds, rivers, lost friends. The feeling is so open and unaffected that it can be, for want of a better phrase, quietly stunning.

Bill Mullins is a whiz-bang musician and a crafty songwriter. He writes thoughtful, intricate tunes dealing with - don't take this the wrong way, now - mature themes. As in, why a grown man might opt out of the romance racket ("Waltzing Alone"). His guitar playing is first-rate and always an integral part of his songs.

Rebecca Rossiter serves up big, dramatic piano ballads drenched in feeling and superbly sung. She's got a background in musical theater, and the songs here show it.

This Zeb Dewar guy is a piece of work. Your reviewer was already wowed by his solo act years ago, when he was but a beardless youth, and he's only gotten better since then.

Dewar's stuff is poetic, spooky, and wholly his own. He's got an intimate, folk-blues guitar sound and a wily vocal style that makes his curious lyrics come off normal as pie. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," he purrs, "but here at the Bureau of Simple Pleasures/the trains are running right on time."

Dalzell lives and breathes local music. With his open mic nights at Baker Center’s Front Room and periodic singer songwriter showcases at Donkey Coffee and Espresso, Bruce shepherds young and unsung talent along with any music that catches his trained ear. The Singer/Songwriter Series continues in this tradition.

In each volume of the series, Bruce presents four of Athens’ best singer/songwriters performing three of their best tunes. It’s hard to argue with that kind of quality. Past volumes have collected tracks from the likes of Laura Nadeau, Tony Xenos and Adam Remnant and the recently released fourth volume of the series finds the quality and variety are none diminished.

Zeb Dewar is such a mainstay of the Athens music scene, it’s hard to believe there is anyone who hasn’t heard him by now. His track “Black Tea” is the perfect opener to the collection. Its lonely accordion and guitar accompaniment typifies the varied and exotic local sound. The song would be as much at home on Bourbon Street as Court Street. His “Ohio River” is as gently ambling as the waterway itself.

Erin Cameron-McElroy’s songs are light and airy, almost transparent. Her gentle voice glides through the heartbreaking “Only a Memory,” the innocent “Bluebird Song,” and the haunting “Paint Me a River.” The songs sound as though, generations from now, they could be sung alongside classic folk songs like “Red River Valley” and “Froggie Went A-Courtin’.”

Bill Mullins is the consummate singer/.songwriter. His tracks reveal a depth of pure songwriting know-how. “Hard Times Movin’ In” is as bluesy as the blues get and “Waltzing alone” is poetic and appropriate (it’s actually a waltz!). His influential stamp can be heard on Dalzell’s own songwriting.

A welcome change from acoustic guitar-driven songs is found Rebecca Rossiter’s piano-based tracks. The compositions betray Rossiter’s background in musical theater. All three of her songs sound as though they could be taken straight from a Broadway musical. Like Broadway selections, her pieces only tell part of a larger story and beg for more to be told. Her first offering “Blessing” is the rarest treat on this collection. It stands at the crossroads of pop song styling, classical training, perfect vocal phrasing, and poetic imagery.

Though not exhaustive, the album serves as a great primer on the beauty that is Athens music. With more volumes to come, Bruce says he releases these albums “to bring attention to the music I love.”