Every Single Day

With three albums and the successful Cry Cry Cry collaboration with Dar Williams and Richard Shindell under her belt (not to mention a cult following in the New England folk scene), Lucy Kaplansky could have consciously attempted to break out with wider acclaim and sales. Instead, she has turned in her most quiet, atmospheric, and even mysterious recording to date. In the wash of drummer Ben Wittman's Lanois-esque production--lots of reverbed guitar and moody percussion layers--Kaplansky sings of sins of flesh and soul, all the existential doubts suggested by sex, cities, and (as on the heartbreaking "Song for Molly") senility.

Kaplansky will never be the songwriter that peers like John Gorka or Ellis Paul are, but she's a fine interpreter with good taste in material, as demonstrated by her engaging takes on Julie Miller's "Broken Things," Steve Earle's "You're Still Standing There," and the Louvin Brothers' gospel gem "The Angels Rejoiced Last Night." --Roy Kasten