Gillian Welch

For a while, it seemed as if Gillian Welch might never release another album. One of the many deserving roots artists who rose to attention in part by appearing on the landmark <I>O Brother, Where Art Thou?</i> soundtrack, the Nashville songbird released several of the prettiest bluegrass albums of the turn-of-the-century, including 1998's <i>Hell Among the Yearlings</i> and 2001's stunning <i>Time (The Revelator)</i>. But after her 2003 album <i>Soul Journey</i>, Welch put her solo career on the backburner in favor of collaboration, recording with everybody from Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes, Steve Earle and The Decemberists, and touring with her longtime partner and collaborator Dave Rawlings in the Dave Rawlings Machine. Eight years after <I>Soul Journey</i>, last year Welch finally released her follow-up, <i>The Harrow & the Harvest</i>, a lovely and typically understated folk album.