Songs from an Unmarried Housewife and Mother, Greenwich Village, USA

Not many people would open a disc with a tin whistle and voice version of "Yankee Doodle," but Suzzy Roche pulls it off. A former member of folksinging sister trio, the Roches, Suzzy invited sister Maggie, daughter Lucy, and Loudon Wainwright III (Lucy's father) to join her on this joyful collection. Wainwright and Jules Shear add hillbilly harmonies on "Cold Hard Wind," while Wainwright also adds banjo. There's a Roche-like novelty penned by Maggie Roche, "G Chord Song," and "To Alaska With Love" is an epic love story, the kind that songwriters love to tackle. "Love Comes to Town" is an ode to open hearts while the other side is told in the wistful "No Such Thing as Love." Tasteful as ever, David Mansfield takes on dobro and pedal steel chores while Curtis Stigers sits in on trumpet for the cocktail jazzy "Out of the Blue." Producers Stewart Lerman and Roche have just the right touch with her heartfelt and strong folk music; it sings out rather than sits back sounding quaint — no easy task for a voice as sweet and old-fashioned as Roche's.