Letter To America

This is Tyrone-born, Leicester-domiciled Cathy Bonner's second album. She gallantly treads a dangerous path between bland pop-country and the more studied classiness of the younger Emmylou Harris and manages to come out on the side of the good guys. But at times it's a close call.

Bonner's soft country-rock songs are generally weighty and full-bodied, down-beat and portentous, her voice at once reedy and warm, emotive and sympathetic. This collection suggests a bright future, especially if she can continue to match the quality, both in terms of material and performance, of the plaintive 'Gasoline'. Likewise, 'Magazine' merits a clutch of country cover versions and 'I'm Not Afraid' clips along at a sprightly canter. The slow piano and organ dominated six-minute title track, a paean to lost love, is a real anthem for the heartbroken.

In the upper register her voice has touches of Joni Mitchell, Holly Dunn or Nanci Griffith, as on 'Postcard With A View', while Joan Baez springs to mind regularly, especially on 'True Believer'.

What's missing is that touch of uniqueness that would set Bonner aside as a truly original talent. She breaks no new ground and offers few new insights ("home is where the heart is"? Well, who would have thought it, eh?), but there's a mature quality and a conviction to her work that in the end brushes such concerns aside and keeps her flag flying defiantly for another day.