Album: Carlene Carter, Stronger (Yep Roc)

"This hell-raising angel's had her fair share of heartache," sings Carlene Carter on the title track of her first album in 13 years. She ain't kidding: a drug-fuelled train-wreck in the finest country tradition, she was heading for the buffers when the deaths in 2003 of mom June Carter, stepdad Johnny Cash, boyfriend Howie Epstein and sister Rosey shocked her into straightening out.

Those events inform this cracking set of country-rock, littered with lines like "she followed her heart to the bitter end", "my bittersweet wasted youth" and "what does not kill me makes me stronger". Most poignant is the song she wrote for Cash when she was just 19, "It Takes One To Know Me" – recorded here as a duet with her husband Joe Breen providing baritone harmonies – in which youthful lines like "It's true that you used to be crazy, and harder to know than most men" are transformed by the resonance of self-knowledge.

But there's not a dud note in earshot here, whether she's essaying high-stepping, Burrito-esque hillbilly rockers or more traditional-toned pieces in mandolin, dobro and autoharp. Comeback of the year, no contest.

Pick of the album:"The Bitter End", "It Takes One To Know Me", "Stronger", "I'm So Cool"