Real Live Woman

NOT A live album, as the title might suggest but another stellar collection of songs from one of country music's more credible and longest serving female singers.

To her credit, on previous albums Trisha Yearwood has always looked beyond Nashville's tight circle for her material and Real Live Woman follows a similar pattern.

She can also attract high profile friends into the studio: Jackson Browne supplies his distinctive backing vocals to a version of an obscure Bruce Springsteen song, 'Sad Eyes' (as featured on his recent Tracks compilation). Her friend Emmylou Harris sings harmony on the bluegrass-inflected 'Too Bad You're No Good'. Meanwhile, Linda Ronstadt fans of old will doubtless want to make comparisons with Yearwood's reading of the former's gospel epic 'Try Me Again' which originally featured on Ronstadt's classic '70s album Hasten Down The Wind.

Yearwood is strongest as a ballad singer, and thankfully they make up the bulk of the material on Real Live Woman. The gorgeous title track is an exquisite example of her mastery of the country slow-burner while Matreca Berg's 'I'm Still Alive', and Tom Snow's 'Wild For You Baby' are equally compelling examples of her natural, almost soulful singing.

A solid, if not outstanding, record.