Little Heater is the brand new solo record from Freakwater's Catherine Irwin and features guest appearances from Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Tara Jane ONeil (Rodan. More Catherine Irwin Little Heater images.

Some things take time if you want them to be good -- sourdough bread, bourbon, wine, and music from. 's second solo album,, arrives a decade after her solo debut (2002's ), and seven years after she last recorded with in (2005's ), but if sounds modest on the surface, it's emotionally powerful and deeply moving music that shows her deliberate pace as a songwriter reaps impressive rewards. Was produced and recorded by, with members of the band providing accompaniment, and the collaboration is an inspired one -- while the music is more artful and adventurous than the stark acoustic backings of 's best-known work, there's a spare, gentle approach that suits these songs perfectly, and strikes a lovely balance between the painterly approach of the musicians and the rough-hewn beauty of 's voice. Sounding like a long lost member of, sings like a whiskey-addled red dirt angel on, and the sweet, unaffected twang of her instrument gently winds itself around the fragile emotional purity of her phrasing, and it brings the spiritual undertow of songs like 'Sinner Saves a Saint,' 'Piss to Gin,' and 'The Whole of the Law' to life. ( also includes her own interpretation of 'Dusty Groove,' which she wrote for 's superb album, and it's instructive to compare how two gifted vocalists can find so many different and equally apt things in one great song.) No one else in contemporary music writes and sings with the spectral beauty that comes as second nature to, and is a lovely, evocative album that touches the heart, the soul, and the intellect with equal force; this is the work of a singular artist working at the top of her game and it demands to be heard.

Whether as a member of the beloved outsider folk outfit Freakwater or as a solo artist, Catherine Irwin has put together an extraordinary catalogue over her two-decade-plus career. Yet Irwin’s inarguable status as a major talent remains belied by the paradox of her relative obscurity. In a just world all that would change with her most recent release, “,” a remarkable collection of meditative ballads and soul-inflected laments, like the high lonesome “To Break Your Heart,” featuring backing vocals from her Louisville neighbor and reliable creative cousin Will Oldham.