Rosaryville
Rosaryvilleis the kind of recording you want to curl up with under a reading lamp. Indeed, her songs feel like they shouldn't so much be packaged in a CD jewel case as bound like 10 finely honed short stories. The New Orleans-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter has inspired as many references to writers (Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor) as musicians (Nanci Griffith,Kris Kristofferson), and with good reason: She treats her lyrics with remarkable care and has a knack for penning truly involving narratives.Rosaryville, her fourth album, offers particularly striking chronicles of a prideful Cuban cigar maker ("Rosa's Coronas") and a dying mother fretting over her soon-to-be-orphaned son ("Who Will Pray for Junior"). Campbell doesn't wow one as a vocalist and her accompaniment is solid but not particularly memorable country folk. It's her way with words that elevatesRosaryvilleabove the contemporary folk pack.--Steven Stolder