‘Kellie Pickler’

‘Kellie Pickler’

Kellie Pickler

(19 Recordings/BNA Records)

Grade: C+

Kellie Pickler was right to wait to use her name as the title of an album. With “Kellie Pickler,” her second CD, she improves at crafting songs that express her natural exuberance, and the emotional depth behind it.

The blonde North Carolina native may not have the vocal range or force of fellow “American Idol” contestant (and eventual winner) Carrie Underwood. But Pickler’s down-home personality has made her a fan favorite, and her debut CD, “Small Town Girl,” went gold without any singles cracking the country Top 10.

Pickler co-wrote five of her new songs, including three of its best. “Rocks Instead Of Rice” crosses the sassy, spurned woman narratives of Loretta Lynn with the witty cattiness of the “Sex and the City” principles picking apart a rival across the room.

“Somebody To Love Me,” an aching ballad, taps into the insecurity of loneliness with believable feeling, while “Going Out In Style” is a cheeky song about wanting to be buried in the shoe department of Saks Fifth Avenue. It’s set to a brassy arrangement that updates country swing for modern times.

Pickler isn’t yet as consistent as she can be, as a couple of songs slip into generic country-pop. But she’s clearly growing creatively, and while some cynics may characterize her unfiltered persona as ditzy, her new album suggests she’s far from a here-today, gone-tomorrow novelty.

—Michael McCall, Associated Press

‘Red Letter Year’

Ani DeFranco (Righteous Babe)

Grade: B

For a woman on a mission with the reputation for angry, Ani DiFranco has finally sat herself down and taken a deep breath.

On her first album in two years, DiFranco reflects on becoming a mother to a baby girl and seems more relaxed than her activist alter ego. Even the record’s title, “Red Letter Year,” sends a message of content.

The songs sound like vintage DiFranco, peppered with her piercing electric guitar and poetic lyrics. The topics are the same too. Feminism, strength, individuality and introspection all come through as in previous albums, but this time around there’s no screaming. This isn’t the Ani DiFranco of the anguished 1997 live album “Living in Clip” or her acclaimed 1995 CD “Not a Pretty Girl.”

It’s not all baby booties and good karma either. Known to have strong political opinions, DiFranco lashes out, just not as often. On “Alla This,” she writes: “I can’t support the troops cuz every last one of them is being duped.”

But it seems some of the room in her writing that was reserved for political and societal anger has been taken up by the happiness she’s found in motherhood.

The track “Present/Infant” is almost a rock ’n’ roll lullaby for her daughter, an uplifting song that has the once-bitter DiFranco singing, “I’ve got myself a new mantra. It says: Don’t forget to have a good time!”

Maybe, just maybe, Ani DiFranco has become like the song on her 1996 album “Dilate” — a “Joyful Girl.”

—Caryn Rousseau, Associated Press

‘Jennifer Hudson’

Jennifer Hudson (Arista Records)

Grade: B

With her Oscar-winning performance in “Dreamgirls” and roles in movies like “Sex and the City” and the upcoming “The Secret Life of Bees,” Jennifer Hudson’s singing career had become almost an afterthought. With the release of her formidable, self-titled debut CD, it is now deservedly back in the spotlight.

Hudson, who first came to prominence as a finalist on “American Idol,” worked with some of music’s hottest names on the CD. Ne-Yo and the hit-production team StarGate appear on the cool first single “Spotlight” and the semi-dark “Can’t Stop the Rain.” Tank works on the tough but ladylike “We Gon’ Fight,” and on “What’s Wrong [Go Away],” Hudson goes head-to-head with T-Pain and his vocoder.

But Hudson’s booming voice truly shines on tracks like “If It Isn’t Love” and the Robin Thicke-assisted, Anita Baker-influenced “Giving Myself.”

There are a few disappointments. Hudson’s duet with Fantasia, “I’m His Only Woman,” written and produced by Missy Elliott, newcomer Jazmine Sullivan and Jack Splash (Solange, Estelle), is simply a yelling contest between the former “Idol” alums. The Timbaland-produced “Pocketbook” is just as bad, where Hudson threatens to hit a man with her purse who’s getting a little too familar. Please.

Overall, the CD’s highlight is Hudson’s vocals. She confidently sings each song — going high and low, fast and slow at the right moments, with the right amount of emotion. Which is to be expected from an Oscar winner.

—Mesfin Fekadu, Associated Press

‘1000 Miles of Life’

John Oates (Phunk Shui Records)

Grade: A

John Oates knows something about blending.

He has always been the more anonymous, or at least understated, member of Hall & Oates, and there’s a similar sense of community about the new solo album “1000 Miles of Life.”

Oates is content to share the spotlight with guests on songs that showcase the range of his songwriting and performance.

At the top, there’s an authentic slice of the blue-eyed soul that put Oates and Daryl Hall on the MTV and radio map back in the day. Introduced by a chunky “Man Eater” keyboard riff, the title track is powered by an infectious chorus and a solid, tuneful guitar solo.

As a singer, Oates, 59, doesn’t match the presence of his longtime partner, but he’s more than capable. Even better, he’s still smart enough to capitalize on the power of an inspired collaboration. On “1000 Miles of Life,” his duet partner is Bonnie Bramlett (of Delaney and Bonnie fame), who deserves her own solo album someday soon.

For my money, I’d take Oates singing the upbeat songs over the ballads such as “The Good Son.” In such moments, his voice drifts into a breathy whisper that makes it sound flimsy.

Aside from that quibble, it’s obvious that the guy still knows how to make records. The diversity of styles on “1000 Miles” is impressive, including skillfully executed forays into folkish-country and traditional New Orleans styles.

In addition to high profile help from Bramlett, Bela Fleck, Blues Traveler’s John Popper and the Blind Boys of Alabama, the studio band includes Dobro master Jerry Douglas and mandolinist/fiddler Sam Bush.

—Jim Abbott, Orlando Sentinel

‘Paper Trail’

T.I. (Grand Hustle/Atlantic)

Grade: B

Clifford Harris Jr. — the looking-good MC named T.I. — sounds grimmer here than on his most recent records. His rhymes are provocatively intimate and withdrawn, his overall sonic demeanor smaller than before. Recording mostly at home while awaiting trial for possession of machine guns can humble a man — make him less grandly boastful. So, too, can the sadness of a miscarriage. “I lost my partner and my daughter in the same year/Somehow I rise above my problems and remain here,” raps T.I. during “No Matter What.”

This time it’s personal — that’s “Paper Trail’s” slogan. Though he has been a formidable writer throughout his career, you never got the sense that T.I’s violence-’n’-drugs rhetoric came from within despite his growing up in Atlanta’s hardest parts. But death and detention lace his raps with newfound ardor and forlorn grace and his music with a mumbling grumble. Weirdly enough, it works. Right when “Swing Ya Rag” and “Whatever You Like” get ready for the obvious kink, they chill. Rather than bring in big guns like Justin Timberlake for the big sexy, T.I. gets them to talk down. “The old me is dead and gone,” raps T.I. in rumination.

“Paper Trail” ain’t “Blood on the Tracks.” But it shows a broken man with an openness few major-label rappers would allow.

—A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer

‘Way to Normal’

Ben Folds (Epic)

Grade: B

Already being compared to his old band’s shaggy-dog classic “Whatever and Ever Amen,” piano man Ben Folds’ third solo album — not counting EPs, a live album and an Internet-only collection — is bouncy, acerbic and all over the place. Fresh off a divorce, Folds embraces the juvenile joys of his early career in smirking tunes like “B*tch Went Nuts” and “The Frown Song.” Hammy and theatrical in some spots — as on the opening track, “Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head)” — yet sincere and heart-wrenching in others (the sad, brilliant “Cologne”), Folds displays both an effortless knack for shiny melodies and a sometimes frustrating restlessness. With that said, even his more unwieldy entries are flush with vitality, and few songwriters today are as funny and fearless.

—Doug Wallen, Philadelphia Inquirer