Places In Between
With her apple-cheeked smile and sun-bleached hair, Texas's Terri Hendrix could pass for the fourth member of theDixie Chicks--that is, if she'd dab on a little make-up and change into something other than overalls. The fact that Hendrix's producer and multi-instrumentalist musical partner, Lloyd Maines, is the father of Chick-singer Natalie Maines makes such associations inevitable. But Hendrix's folk-pop sound--slow-roasted over the late-night fires of the Kerrville Folk Festival--has more in common with the DIY ethic ofAni DiFrancothan anything concocted in a Nashville studio.Places in Between, her fourth self-released album, features Maines and a band of Austin's finest playing a darker and more reflective program than Hendrix's previous work,Wilory Farm. In the new album's best song, "Fair," she observes that "nothin' is fair but the weather." But upbeat originals like the title track and "My Own Place" reveal a plucky spirit that requires no cosmetic enhancement to shine brightly.--Rick Mitchell