Although Milwaukee's The Mighty Lumberhorn hasn't released an "official" CD in four years, the down-home bluegrass outfit -- that invented its own instrument and then named the band after it -- hasn't gone anywhere.

In fact, with a new line-up, The Mighty Lumberhorn returns with its second studio disc, "Lumberhorn Presents ... Nothing Ever Happened," which gets its official release with a gig at Linneman's Riverwest Inn on Dec. 19 with String 'Em Up.

"This is the first studio album in four years," says banjoist and principal songwriter Ted Jorin, "and the first one that we recorded at Lumberhorn HQ with our own gear.

"I wrote all the tunes on this one and BJ (aka Ted's uncle Bob Jorin) did all the hard work and engineering. I think we started it about a year ago, but in reality we just recorded instead of rehearsed a few hours at a time a couple times a week, and not even every week. But BJ definitely put in way more time than the rest of us."

Jorin also notes that the band made a pair of "bootleg quality live discs" in the intervening years, adding that "The Merry Lumberhorn's XXXmas XXXtravaganza" and "Lumberhorn Live! American Standards" were, "mostly giveaways so folks might still remember us."

While the self-effacing Jorin suggests the long gap between studio records was because the band dilly-dallied, there really are a few good reasons for the lag.

"The delay is due mostly to laziness, probably, but also that we wanted to let the songs arrange themselves live for a while before recording a definitive version," says Jorin. "Some of the songs on 'Nothing Ever Happened' have been around for three years."

The Lumberhorn hoped that marinating on the songs would produce a result more satisfying that 2004's "Blood is Thicker Than Moonshine," which was recorded in a weekend.

"We did the first CD in three days (and) it felt rushed," admits Jorin. "We were still figuring out how the some of the songs went while were recording them, and four years later we play them completely differently than we recorded them.

"I wanted a more accurate document this time, but at the same time, a couple of the tunes are essentially studio singles and can never be faithfully rendered live. And after all that explanation, we never really play anything the same way twice anyway."

Over time, The Mighty Lumberhorn line-up has also changed, no doubt causing a few delays in recording.

Mandolinist Jayke Orvis left the group to focus on his group The .357 String Band and a few other alterations have also taken place.

"Uncle Cuzzin Dan's jug and mouth harp position was eliminated," Jorin notes. "But Heather Lewin has been playing fiddle with Lumberhorn longer than either Jayke or Dan played with us, actually."

Despite all the changes, something remains the same about The Mighty Lumberhorn and that's the music, which is deeply rooted in American bluegrass tradition and is delivered with passion, fire and a great sense of humor (see "The Ballad of Tupac Shakur (With Fiddle!)").