Sugar Tree
As with its two predecessors,The Sugar Treeis as grounded as a getting-up-there-a-bit hipster divorcée with mounting responsibilities and some stubborn wild hairs, which is to say it's as grounded as Amy Rigby. Lyrically, Rigby remains beguilingly whimsical yet candid as she surveys her world of romantic dues and payoffs. "I've been seeing a couple of guys / But they're like me so I don't want them / They have feelings, they have morals," she 'fesses up in "Balls." Ah, but is the brazen "Wait 'til I Get You Home" ("and the walls come down") addressed to the same callow suitor? Musically, Rigby continues to favor the country-flavored power-pop heard on 1996'sDiary of a Mod Housewifeand 1998'sMiddlescence, albeit with a bit more grit this time around. It's the work of a woman who knows herself and isn't afraid to call attention to her blemishes as well as her beauty.--Steven Stolder