Album: Buddy & Julie Miller, Written in Chalk (New West)

Garlanded with praise from the likes of Emmylou Harris and Don Was ("This might be the best record I've ever heard"), Written in Chalk has the nobility of old-time country music, but with a post-modern appreciation of blues, jazz and the innovations of artists such as Tom Waits and Robert Plant.

The latter guests on the catchy "What You Gonna Do Leroy", where the fiddle, guitar and horn recalls The Band, while Emmylou delivers Buddy & Julie's sermon on "The Selfishness of Man" with due sobriety. Not that the couple need help, being accomplished singers: Buddy's voice has the age-worn quality of driftwood, while Julie's breathy croak recalls Rickie Lee Jones on songs such as "Don't Say Goodbye" and "A Long, Long Time". They can turn a neat lyrical conceit, such as the characterisation of a volatile couple as like "Gasoline and Matches", or the recollection in "Ellis County" of "when times were hard, but we didn't know it/ If we ate, we had to grow it". Instrumental quirks bring fresh slants – the rough-twang guitar and percussion of "Gasoline and Matches" and the bizarre drum sound on "Smooth", like packing-cases hammered in a stairwell – but it's the impact of two artists working with authenticity that gives Written in Chalk its charm.

Pick of the album: 'Ellis County', 'Gasoline and Matches', 'Don't Say Goodbye', 'Smooth'

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