The Speed Of Love (Dead Reckoning, 1999)

Tammy Rogers has long seemed among the most promising of the Dead Reckoning collective - a petite woman blessed with some fearsome fiddling prowess and an achingly sweet soprano. Her second all-solo outing, ups the ante considerably. Previous albums have straddled a gap between honky tonk, Appalachian folk and sundry instrumental displays - and a healthy eclecticism remains. Think of her as Alison Krauss' less tradition-bound older sister.

There are many keepers here: low-key ballads such as "Rescue Me," very infectious mid-tempo stuff like "I Though That You Should Know." The title track is wildy ambitious - melding orchestrated strings with a raucous electric guitar. She picks up the pace with the flat-out abandon of "Mama's Got Some Money" and "How Can I Lose?"

And, if a couple of the 13 tracks seem more solid than spectacular, Rogers remains a wonderful singer - injecting some less distinctive stuff with wit and grace. This is sturdy and consistently listenable - an honest record that serves as a welcome antidote to the many freeze-dried ingenues spilling out of Music Row of late.