If you’re kind of an old rocker who enjoys the Jimi Hendrix Experience, or a reggae buff who clings to old favorites by Bob Marley or Jimmy Cliff or if you enjoy a soulful-folk sound like Van Morrison or Paul Simon with just a pinch of jazz, then the new album by Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, “Burn To Shine,” is bound to entice your ears. Harper and his band of rogue musicians have done it again. Their third release for Virgin Records, embodies everything creative and unique about writing music. Harper is no stranger to invention when it comes to writing and recording new music. Once again he combines his own brand of rock guitar, most notably his work on the Weissenborns (a slide, lap guitar), with a host of other obscure yet harmonious toys.Guest musician David Lindley plays banjo, mandolin and fiddle on the album’s exit song “In The Lord’s Arms,” which has the feel of a soothing, Irish ballad.Tyrone Downie sits in with the band on, “Show Me A Little Shame,” providing an uplifting keyboard that waxes and wanes throughout the song mingling harmonically with The Innocent Criminals’ Juan Nelson’s rambling bass and Dean Butterworth’s driving drums. On a mellow, easy going tune called “Steal My Kisses,” Harper uses Nick Rich on human beat box to give the song a rappish beat that segues into a playful, melodic groove in which Harper seems to be teasing an old love with the refrain “I always have to steal my kisses from you.” The Real Time Jazz Band mixes it up with The Innocent Criminals on “Suzie Blue,” which smacks of old-time New Orlean’s jazz complete with trombone, clarinet, washboard and banjo. Although Harper is a capable lyricist, he is not above borrowing lyrics as in his title track “Burn To Shine.” This straight-rock, traveling jam is reminiscent of old Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, when Petty and his crew were writing songs between gigs to the rolling sound of wheels on a Greyhound bus. Harper uses a somewhat altered version of a catchy line from a book of poetry by Terri Phillips entitled “If I Put My Hands Lightly Over Your Eyes.” A master vocalist, Harper uses the range and rhythm of his voice to fit Phillip’s words neatly into the fast-paced “Burn To Shine.” Every man who has ever felt pressure from his girlfriend or wife will relate to Harper’s lyrics in “Less,” an almost heavy metal tune in which Harper repeats the refrain “If you are happy with nothing, you’ll be so very happy with me. The less you expect, the more you’ll be pleased.”Harper’s brilliance is in his ability to mix and record music. His vision as an accomplished arranger of instruments is the reason he is able to combine so many different instruments and musicians in one song and still come away with a track that is not too busy or cluttered. More importantly, the musicians that Harper picks for his albums seem to trust his every move. That trust creates a sound that is unfettered by convention on “Burn To Shine.” Like Harper’s past albums, no one steps on each other’s toes. Instead the musicians, like Harper’s audience, get to feel the music instead of just playing it.