Music Disc Reviews

The younger Martin also had a hand in the arrangements, which don't always put the songs in the best light. Sometimes they're just odd, as on the opener, "Jack and Jill." The lyric re-imagines the nursery-rhyme characters as straying lovers, which is certainly a novel idea for a song (unless you remember the 1976 song of the same name by the great obscure progressive-rock band Caravan). Richey's vocal conveys the romantic whimsy of the words, but the track is full of frills - whistling, a cartoony flute, and kazoos - that make it way too sweet and silly. In the title track that follows, every one of her vocal phrases in the chorus is answered by the same sax riff (played by Billy Mowbray, same guy who does the noises in "Jack and Jill"), which reduces the song's shelf life to about two plays. Nothing so perverse happens on the rest of the disc, but most of the songs call for more grit than they get. Richey's voice is strong enough that it could take a tougher band kicking behind it.

Her vocals, in fact, are stellar from start to finish. Richey can sound touchingly vulnerable without seeming like she's straining for effect. On "The Absence of Your Company," she uses a conversational crack in her voice to suggest deep intimacy - a trick that few singers this side of Lucinda Williams can pull off this well. As a songwriter, Richey is also doing fine; everything here has a strong melody and an emotional point. And whereas in the past she has sometimes overwritten, these 10 songs clock in at a tight 33:30.

Yet it seems that all 10 might be better served elsewhere. Maybe if one of those maligned Nashville producers needs some good material for one of those country stars ...

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