By her third country album, K.T. Oslin wanted to shape the maturity and wit of her earlier efforts into a more mainstream sound. Unfortunately, the scheme backfired: Love in a Small Town is

Love in a Small Town

By her third country album, K.T. Oslin wanted to shape the maturity and wit of her earlier efforts into a more mainstream sound. Unfortunately, the scheme backfired: Love in a Small Town is her least successful release. Still, no other singer so poignantly captured the obsessions of upscale divorcees as Oslin, who was 47 at the time. Her goal was to describe life in a small town through musical vignettes about women of different ages. Small Town has its charms, as in Oslin's wistful yet strong "Come Next Monday," the album's lone hit. It also includes two covers, "Love is Strange" and "You Call Everybody Darling," which provide fitting commentary on her original tunes. It's an interesting, if flawed, demonstration of her unusual talents. --Michael McCall

Love in a Small Town