I'm late getting to this one, but after two months of printed praise I wanted to check it out and now I'd like to put you up on this one, particularly if you have a soft spot for the Country gals. Part new glossy-country, part traditional, Inside Out finds Yearwood (the queen of the talent portion of the Country Western pageant) in exceptional form. This album simply throws great songs at you one after another. Much like Shania Twain's Come On Over and not at all like Faith Hill's Breathe.

Though a tad too bombastic at times, most of the tracks pay off in grand, sweeping choruses that allow Trisha to render every ounce of gold from her prodigious larynx. Eagle Don Henley shows up for a delightful duet on the album's light and breezy title track, and "Love Me or Leave Me Alone," sounds like a tribute to the Grateful Dead. But aside from a few diversions Inside Out is a towering centerfield home-run that doesn't land for a Country mile. True she didn't write any of these tasty tunes, and few were written by the same person, but such is the nature of the genre. Still she sings the crap of these songs, and you'd never know it was someone else's angst she's conveying.