Goodnight Tender

Amy Ray’s been making music for decades, and she’s touched upon country, bluegrass, and Appalachian mountain music at times in the past. But for 2014’s Goodnight Tender, she’s making a distinct effort to explore what it has to teach her. And she has many friends here to help her. Her Georgia drawl peeks out here and there, and most of the songs are dressed up with acoustic guitars, mandolin, banjos, dobro, fiddle, and upright bass. When an electric organ comes trilling through “Oyster and Pearl,” it’s with a welcome diversion to further color the sound, but not something meant to stick around permanently. Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon joins Heather McEntire on backup vocals for the bluegrass-based “The Gig That Matters.” McEntire’s own song “When You Come for Me” gets a more conventional arrangement with drums, electric bass, piano, and pedal steel guitar, with her and Ray singing like old-time country music friends. Vernon however, holds on for dear life on the lonesome gospel tune “Let the Spirit.” Susan Tedeschi sings along to “Duane Allman,” and Kelly Hogan adds harmonies to the title track and “Time Zone.”