Where I Am (Shanachie, 2007)

Tammy Cochran is an optimist. That much was clear in her 2001 hit, "Angels in Waiting," about her two brothers who died of cystic fibrosis. Her new album focuses on less weighty issues - mainly the lifestyle of the single girl - but is filled with the same hopeful tone.

The album covers relationships from first impressions in "Chemistry" and "And More" through to a long overdue end in "So Long" and getting on with your life in "As Soon as I'm Over You." She highlights the reason behind it all in "Nobody's Home", a lament about the loneliness of an empty house. Despite the inevitable breakups, there's a sense that everything will work out right.

Cochran wrote or co-wrote every song, and she managed to shine them up without entirely polishing away her personality. She relies more on phrasing than on belting high notes to give her vocals character, and the production emphasizes her guitar over the other instruments in the mix. Still, there's a generic quality to the songs that makes it easy to imagine them sung by almost any female country artist.