Dolly Parton: The Grass Is Blue (Sugar Hill)
You can take Dolly away from the schmaltz but you can't quite take the schmaltz out of Dolly, to judge by the cringe-ful "I-think-you're-great-no-I-think-you're-great" sleeve notes on this ripping return to form. But that's a minor crib. Building on the good work of 1988's Hungry Again, Parton has turned to the leading bluegrass label to record her finest and most natural album in some time. Age has hardened the sweetness of her pitched voice, but her ability to squeeze every last drop of emotion from a song is as remarkable as her control of this recording. The players - Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan et al - rise to her promptings with startling exhibitions of instrumental dexterity.
- Joe Breen
Ray Wylie Hubbard: Crusades of the Restless Knights (Rounder)
With a title like that, it comes as no great surprise that this Texan troubadour likes to go on a bit. But such is the richness of his language and the variety of his themes that this proves no hardship. Hubbard is not afraid to show shades of Dylan - the coruscating talking blues, Conversations with the Devil, for example - and he also has a soft spot for other Texans such as Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. But he is very much his own man, chasing the blues, slipping into folk country and replicating the power of Gospel, his gravel voice carrying passion and purpose. Hubbard knows no barriers, and neither does his music.
- Joe Breen