Rhonda Vincent

Singer-songwriter Vincent is one of the most popular and award-winning artists in the bluegrass genre. A flirtation with mainstream country in the ’90s didn’t pan out, though the cheesecake photos here seem a holdover from that. A series of albums on Rounder have seen her reclaim her roots, and Good Thing Going is the real deal. Her purity of tone and phrasing are impeccable, and there’s a pleasing variety to the material, from slow, hurtin’ songs like "Scorn of A Lover” to jaunty romp "Hit Parade Of Love.” A duet with Keith Urban on "The Water Is Wide” also works well. Vincent wrote, or co-wrote, five of the tracks, with the other tunes here ranging from bluegrass standards to contemporary covers, such as the excellent old-time country-sounding "World’s Biggest Fool.” Nashville aces like Bryan Sutton and Stuart Duncan ensure that the instrumentation is top-notch, and the production work of Rhonda and brother Darrin is clean.