He'll feature songs from his new album, "Busy Makin' Money," which ventures far from the tales of Alaska that dominated his debut album, "Tidal Lore," released 10 years ago.

"It's hard to watch the arrogance and hypocrisy of our current situation without wanting to write about it," he said. "It's something you can't beat people up with either. It's pretty 'in-your-face' on that, but we also want to have fun with the music. And we want it to be relevant."

Sheldon also takes a sober tone on songs such as "Ain't No Water" and a more caressing one on "Every Green Thing" - with lines such as "it's true, finding a girl with a garden is worth any price" - all backed up by mixed acoustic ensembles in constantly changing styles.

"It has everything, from swing to reggae-influenced music to Delta blues, within the broad brush of folk music," he said. "Those are just things that have influenced me over the years. I love blues, and more and more swing, and it certainly influences the direction of a lot of my stuff."

More than 15 regional musicians are featured on the album, including well-known stalwarts such as banjoist Eric Holle, multi-instrumentalist and producer Albert McDonnell, guitarist Curt Terrall, pianist George Wallace and saxophonist Doug Bridges.

Sheldon gives co-credit for the album to his wife, Nancy Berland, calling it "a labor of love and a product of our marriage." He said she wrote many of the lyrics while he concentrated on arrangements. Her garden is the focus of "Every Green Thing," for instance, and she wrote "War Machine," which also is featured on "Wounded Dove," an anti-war compilation by Alaska musicians.

Other songs on "Busy Makin' Money," are from concepts Sheldon said he's had for years and were nursed into completion by recent experiences. The final inspiration for the opening "I Don't Need A Miracle," about true spirituality found in everyday simplicity, came when he woke up at 3 a.m. while his 82-year-old mother was visiting.

"Cable Is Your Chain" came to him while taking in, arguably, a higher form of entertainment.

"I was sitting in the audience of a weird Halloween theater drama; it was about TV and this couch potato character," Sheldon said. "I thought 'Wow, this is really weird.' I went home and wrote that song."

Sheldon, who's been performing for 27 years, grew up with more rock than folk influences. Among the musical influences he lists are Doc Watson, Taj Mahal, Robert Johnson and Stan Rogers.

He's also no stranger to Juneau, having once lived here 20 years ago. He's consistently remained involved with the local music scene. He was scheduled to perform a few weeks ago at the Mountain Music Festival at the Mount Roberts Tramway, but had to cancel due to last-minute difficulties.

Sheldon's debut album was featured on National Public Radio's "World Cafe." His new release is aiming for far wider exposure, at least commercially, being offered through major online music download stores and CD retailers. Nevertheless, Sheldon said he hasn't seen any explosion in sales to date. He still talks about events like the Juneau concert as significant opportunities to promote his albums.

"Unless there's some big stroke of luck, I'm not going to be 'Big Traveling Musician,'" he said.