Underneath the Stars

2003 album from the sweetheart of English folk song. 12 tracks. Compass.

Rusby's fifth solo recording, like previous efforts, boasts a well-crafted selection of original compositions and ancient ballads. While she has rightly been praised for the sheer beauty of her voice--which has never sounded better than on these dozen tracks--her greatest gift may be her ability to choose traditional songs and rework them in subtle and imaginative new ways. She's not afraid to add new words and compose her own melodies to melancholy odes to lost love like "Let Me Be" and "Cruel," which fairly trade emotional intensity for authenticity. Rusby is helped out musically by her husband, Scottish fiddler John McCusker, who produced the CD and helped ensure that every note played by the guitars, citterns, accordions, and flutes is perfectly placed to accent the vocals. Underneath the Stars is not a departure from Rusby's previous work; rather it is a refinement of what she has done before. --Michael John Simmons