After winning a Grammy in 1991 for Best New Artist and charting well with 1993's "The Rainy Season," Marc Cohn seemed to drop off the face of the music world. Cohn returns to stores Tuesday with "Burning The Daze," which continues his simple, humanistic breed of songwriting. The first track, "Already Home," bursts through the door with a hatful of joyous bluster, inviting the next 10 tracks in for the party.

Piano and guitars, performed by Cohn, underpin these songs. His slide work on "Girl of Mysterious Sorrow," matched by turbulent percussion, give the song its melancholy urgency. The solo piano in "Saints Preserve Us" paints the sepiatoned memory of a young boy in denial of hismother's death. But it's Cohn's husky voice that makes the listener feel instantly at home.

Co-produced by Cohn and John Leventhal (Shawn Colvin, Patty Larkin), "Daze" includes a few cameos, like Roseanne Cash's understated appearance on "Olana." Patty Griffin lends her voice to two tracks, "Already Home" and the pretty "Healing Hands," one of Cohn's deft romances. "Drunk like a baby on his mama's milk/Take me down under the wishing tree/Lay your healing hands on me" intoned in Cohn's and Griffin's complementary tones, is one of the best bits on the record.

The wistful endpiece, "Ellis Island," deals with a larger homecoming -- thousands of immigrants coming to America. Cohn's songs make peace with American music, from early folk to blues and pop. It's good to have him back.

-- Beth Winegarner

This article was originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle.