Dawn Landes - Sweet Heart Rodeo

Through this, she worked with Phillip Glass, Ryan Adams and Tchad Blake, among others, found a band called Hew and toured with them and over the course of a decade. She even released a couple of well-received solo albums.

She also found time to marry Josh Ritter, a terrific American songwriter in his own right.� But all these collaborations and meet-ups only tell a small piece of the story.� Even if Landes decamped to studios to learn from the greats, she'd only be well received there if she had something to offer of her own, even if it took a while for that to appear under her own weight.

With Sweet Heart Rodeo, her third solo album, it's here.� This is a delightful record, plain and simple. Landes begins with the dusty Americana romp Young Girl, a song that showcases a strong, syrupy vocal range, reaching darker realms of folk-pop akin to Beth Orton or even Cat Power.

But this is just the beginning, and Sweet Heart Rodeo is filled with different reasons to fall in love with Landes.� Here, she experiments with everything from brooding, Appalachian ballads to ethereal, almost Kitchen Motors-influenced atmospherics, and the more one listens, the more each adventure is paved with gold.

Money In The Bank is a simple guitar strum, buttressed with simple flugelhorn accompaniment.� There is not much to it, but there need not be.� Landes' pipes tell a tale that needs little support.� She speaks of not having money and being forced to sleep in the yard, but in doing so she never comes off as downtrodden.� Instead her voice manipulates, turning the darkly lit ballad into a lullaby.

Yet next she goes after Scarlett Johannsson and Dave Sitek territory with Love, merging plaintive Calypso beats with a lazy summer's day in song.� It's starkly different from its predecessor, but equally filling, showcasing a songwriter with range, smarts and guts, all at once.

Wandering Eye is where ethereality steps in, and Landes flirts with elements of Kira Kira, M�m and the aforementioned Kitchen Motors Family.� Jabs of piano lilt into circus-themed synthesizers, built atop a framework of lightly dusted harmonica-flecked country.� Again it's gorgeous, contributing to a sum that equals the greatness of its parts, even though the parts are literally all over the place.

But here it doesn't matter.� It all fits.� With any justice, Sweet Heart Rodeo will elevate Landes to the mainstream; she doesn't deserve to sleep on the floor of any studio.

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