Trisha Yearwood took an unprecedented four years between her eighth album, 2001's
Inside Out, and its 2005 follow-up,
Jasper County. The reasons for the extended hiatus were part creative and part personal, as
Yearwood weathered the storm of going public with her relationship with
Garth Brooks (as of the release of
Jasper County, the couple were engaged to be married) -- but the long wait proved worthwhile, since
Jasper County is one of her very best records, stretching further musically than most of her albums while being more cohesive than most as well. Reuniting with longtime producer
Garth Fundis, with whom she's done most of her best work (he did not helm
Inside Out),
Yearwood's picked a set of 11 songs that aren't just uniformly strong, but are quite diverse. While there's a strong bluesy undercurrent here, highlighted by the slow-churning opener "Who Invented the Wheel" and the
Bobbie Gentry-styled Southern country-soul of "Sweet Love," this is firmly a country album, with few concessions to pop crossover. The tracks that do have a lush, slick surface tend to be the big ballads, such as "Standing Out in a Crowd," but those tend to be grounded with acoustic guitars and
Yearwood's impassioned delivery. Plus, even those sweeping slow tunes are offset by such excellent ballads as the heartbroken "Trying to Love You" and the epic "Georgia Rain," which are pure country and lend the overall album a sweet, reflective quality. Even if the album does tend toward relaxed, meditative tunes,
Jasper County works because instead of maintaining that introspective vibe throughout the album,
Yearwood and
Fundis bring in not just those bluesy, soulful songs for balance, but they find two rip-roaring
Al Anderson songs -- the white-hot "Pistol" and the old-fashioned honky tonk anthem "It's Alright" -- to give this more country grit than has been heard on any
Yearwood album in a long time. At a mere 38 minutes, the album moves along briskly, not just because of the short running time, but because the album is paced well, moving gracefully between ballads, blues like "River of You," and rollicking uptempo tunes. The end result is not just one of
Yearwood's most entertaining albums, but one of her richest records, in both musical and emotional terms as well. [This edition includes the bonus track "Love Will Always Win."] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine