Alison Krauss and Union Station: "So Long So Wrong" (Rounder)

Dial-a-track code: 1971

This album builds steadily on the breakthrough compilation Now That I've Found You which took Alison Krauss and Union Station out from the relatively small world of old-time country enthusiasts into the less refined airwaves of Nashville and beyond. There are no risks taken; it is essentially the same mix of accomplished bluegrass and sensitive arrangements of popular classics such as Michael McDonald's I Can Let Go Now The playing is superb without ever descending to flashy licks and the singing, particularly that of Krauss, gets to the heart of the matter. Considering the hype surrounding the 25-year-old Illinois-born violinist and singer, this album is quietly defiant in its adherence to stated styles.

Sharon Shannon: "Each Little Thing" (Grapevine)

Dial-a-track code: 2191

This album adds symmetry to Sharon Shannon's trefoil with a shift to the Scots in her selection of sources. Donal Lunny expertly meters. Tommy Peoples's fiddle and John McSherry's pipes feature as mentor and metaphor in a shadowy unison in the swung Diarmuid's March, Shannon herself is chameleon - on her Micho Russell-attack whistle on reels, with Mary Custy on high-energy fiddle in the Scottish Bag Of Cats set. Excessive beat at moments undermines the music-challenge, Kirsty McColl's Libertango is a changeling, but from the opening Lad O'Beirne's right through to Ritchie Dwyer's and the final Ivory And The Quill this unhurried performance is a glorious parade of melodic taste.

Nanci Griffith: "Blue Roses From The Moons" (Eastwest) Dial-a-track code: 2081

Once hotly tipped to conquer the mainstream market, in recent years Nanci Griffith has quietly slipped out of the big spotlight. In the process her work has ironically regained the strength of purpose which the compromises demanded by fame sapped from it. The Roses is possibly the best album she has recorded in years; there is no straining for the big song, nor the big statement. Producer Don Gehman happily brings it all home to Texas, whether it is a spine-tingling reading of Guy Clark's She Ain't Goin Nowhere or letting it rip on tracks such as Morning Train or her own finely-crafted songs of reminiscence and romance.