Waking Up Laughing (SonyBMG, 2007)

If you take a singer with one of the best set of pipes in the genre, give her the experience of being in the business for many years and then give her the power to produce a disc that takes advantage of the first two qualities, it's hard to go wrong.

Martina McBride does virtually nothing wrong in creating a disc that has no lows, but is a bit devoid of the spectacular highs of her previous outings. As a writer, she teams well with the Warren Brothers for two highlights, the hit single "Anyway" and "How I Feel." She also gets some valued assistance from Keith Urban on "Tryin'to Find a Reason."

"Anyway" is lyrically the most positive of the 11 songs. It treads into the Lee Ann Womack "I Hope You Dance" territory. "You can love someone with all your heart/For all the right reasons/And in a moment they can choose to walk away/Love 'em anyway."

In terms of risk-taking, "Wake Up Laughing" won't earn many high marks, but for a solid menu of quality songs by one of country's best singers, there's plenty to applaud here.