Melonie Cannon (Skaggs Family, 2004)

One of the refreshing things about the debut solo effort from Melonie Cannon,daughter of Buddy Cannon, long-time leading Nashville producer and writer, is that she seems to have learned from hanging out with much of country music's "A-List" talent during her growing-up years that a singer and song are supposed to be partners. As more and more singers, particularly women, seem to be fixated on high-decibel "power ballads," it's nice to hear a new voice that's not afraid to relax and let the song lead the way.

All 10 tracks are all-acoustic, bordering on bluegrass, and the supporting cast is excellent. In particular, Randy Kohrs' and Jerry Douglas' Dobro work add a nice counterpoint to Cannon's smoky, laid-back vocals. It also helps that the writing credits include folks like dad Buddy, Ronnie Bowman and Bill Anderson. The album's best cut, in fact, may be the Matraca Berg/Jim Photoglo-penned "Tennessee Road"- Cannon's voice seems tailor-made for the kind of thoughtful, evocative material Berg has come up with over the years. On the whole, a prettymellow set of tunes that actually makes for a nice change of pace.