Album: Allison Moorer

Mockingbird, New Line

For a singer raised in the country tradition, Moorer has always had an awful lot of soul. So it's always been on the cards that her interpretative day would dawn. Here it is: Allison does the classics of rock, folk 'n' blues, as written by women. The blues turn out well. We find Ma Rainey and Nina Simone inhabited like a pissed-off Bonnie Raitt, slippery acoustic guitars and all. But her Patti Smith ("Dancing Barefoot") and Joni ("Both Sides Now") are non-events. Interestingly, it's the "folk" tunes that sing: the McGarrigles' "Go, Leave" and Gillian Welch's "Revelator". It's as if she knows of what they speak.

Download this: 'Revelator': Allison involved in a dark corner