Lee Ann Womack rose to prominence with prime mainstream Nashville fodder like hit ballad “I Hope You Dance” and the Shania-sized power pop of “I’ll Think Of A Reason Later.” Then she made a hell of a comeback with 2014’s The Way I’m Livin’, a roots move keyed to sinnin’ with hints of gospel and everything in between. Three years later, its more muted follow-up opens with the exclamation, “I’ve got all the trouble I’m ever gonna need” and nearly rocks out for six minutes with her Dolly Parton-esque trill backed up by a choir. But the only other things on her ninth album to match “All The Trouble” are a top-tier rendering of “Long Black Veil” and maybe “Wicked,” whose tale of a “.38 special and an alibi” returns to sinnin’. Little else here stuns you in place like “The Way I’m Livin’” or beautifies like “When I Come Around.”
—Dan Weiss
