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CONNIE SMITH

(Warner Bros. Nashville)

In today's youth-oriented country-music marketplace, it's a minor miracle that Connie Smith has gotten a second chance. Smith, who took Nashville by storm in the mid '60s and then traded stardom for faith and family, was once cited by Dolly Parton as one of only "three female singers in the world -- the rest of us are just pretending." Her booming voice, undiminished by age, is still more than strong enough to cut through the din of a crowded tavern. Working with multi-instrumentalist Marty Stuart, who's also her husband, she offers a personalized collection of new material (she shares writing credit on all but one of the disc's tracks) here. The tunes lack the catchy wordplay of Smith's early hits (all of which were reissued by RCA on one of the label's Essentials collections two years ago). But Connie Smith is proof that after all these years she can handle everything from two-stepping honky-tonks to Celtic-style ballads with singular style.

-- Steven Rypins