Chely Wright - Single White Female (CD)

All Music Guide

Chely Wright reunited with producer Tony Brown -- the man behind hit records by George Strait and Reba McEntire, as well as Wright's own Let Me In -- for her fourth album, Single White Female. The record picks up where its predecessor left off, offering a selection of ten songs with clean, tasteful arrangments that place Wright in the forefront. If the songs aren't always immediately grabbing, they're all classy, well-written tunes that slowly work their way into memory. Even when Wright and Brown shoot for the charts, such as on the big chorus of "The Love That We Lost," they pull it off, since Chely never oversings and the instrumentation is never bombastic. She still sounds her best on ballads, but her uptempo numbers -- including the clever title track and "The Fire" -- are equally convincing, which is one of the main reasons that Single White Female is a welcome addition to an already impressive catalog.

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide