Mrs Pinocci's Guitar
After five albums, Cheryl Wheeler is not only a musician's musician, she's also a hugely talented performer, comedian, and expert in tying bittersweet lyrics to her increasingly intense melodies. On her second Rounder album, Wheeler spreads her creative wings further than before. Here, the humorous side to her songwriting comes to the fore with knockouts like the genuinely hilarious, rink-organ-accented "TV"--whose chorus, sung in an impatient, offhand way, ends, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah / Sky's real nice / Moon's real big / Stars real bright / Cable calls and it don't seem right / That I can't watch TV."  The organ returns in the preface of another wry romp--"Is It Peace or Is It Prozac?" Not surprisingly, Wheeler leavens the silliness, effortlessly switching over to sadness and hard-earned heart knowledge in several numbers, including the plaintive "Further and Further Away." Mostly guitar and voice with stark and tasteful backing, this is the kind of album that gives singer/songwriters a good name.--Robert Baird