The credit for moving US folk music from a staid, traditional form to an expressive, open-ended medium usually goes to Fred Neil, who influenced everyone from Tim Buckley to the Lovin' Spoonful. However, unbeknownst to most, Chicagoan Terry Callier was concocting a similar blend of folk, jazz, and blues in near-obscurity as early as 1963. After moving into more commercial R&B territory he retired from music for years before being coaxed into a 1990s comeback by the UK acid jazz crowd . His subsequent albums and concerts were shockingly just as powerful as those from three decades earlier, and he became quite the cause celebre, recording duets with the likes of Paul Weller and Beth Orton.