Someplace Far Away From Here (Luna, 1999)

Lisa and Roberta Morales have built up a big local following in Houston and environs for several years while remaining almost unknown elsewhere. Listening to their second album reveals one obvious problem: they both do so many things so well that they defy the easy categorization today's industry demands.

Both sisters sing (separately and together), write, and play guitar (although some of the lead parts are played by longtime accompanist David Spencer). They even produced the album themselves. They perform in a wide variety of styles and two languages, with an overall effect somewhere between Bonnie Raitt and a female Los Lobos.

Purely from a country music perspective, the best stretch comes in the middle with Lisa's ballad "Teardrops" which is followed by two uptempo tracks, Roberta's "Too Deep Of Water" and Lisa's "Your Turn To Cry." And almost anyone should appreciate the exquisite beauty of their harmonies on old Spanish songs like "Cancion Mixteca," even if you don't understand a word. Like The Dixie Chicks before them, Sisters Morales is an act that Texas has had to itself for far too long. (Luna, P.O. Box 42009, Houston, TX 77042).