Jerry Douglas, who's most often heard adding lustrous Dobro lines to Alison Krauss's Union Station and umpteen country and pop records, uses his periodic solo albums to stretch the stylistic boundaries of steel strings and a slide bar. Lookout for Hope begins on a sweetly familiar note with a multitracked Dobro arrangement of Duane Allman's ever-popular "Little Martha," then ventures toward bluegrass, bebop, and points between and beyond. On many tracks, drums and even a dash of saxophone enhance the core acoustic string sounds, and low-key vocal cameos from Maura O'Connell ("Footsteps Fall") and James Taylor ("The Suit") offer a nice changeup from the high-powered instrumental action. Most intriguing is the title track (written by jazz guitarist Bill Frisell), in which the interlocking mandolin chops of Sam Bush and Nickel Creek's Chris Thile create a hypnotic groove that Douglas, guitarist Bryan Sutton, and Phish's Trey Anastasio ride into a 10-minute space jam. --Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers