***Richard Shindell

REUNION HILL

(Shanachie)

With the heart of the seminarian he once was and the soul of the apostate he forever shall be, Shindell crafts moral dilemmas and spiritual crises into four-minute folk-pop tunes. "The Next Best Western," the kickoff track on his third and best effort, is ostensibly about a trucker, but it might as well be Shindell on the interstate on his way to the next gig, drawing comparisons between the toll taker and priestly dispensation. Producer/multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell sets Shindell's compositions in complimentary settings like the country-gospelisms (pedal steel and organ) of "Next Best Western." Occasionally Campbell piles on a bit too much: "May" is a striking narrative that hardly needed to be made into a power ballad. But in the end, Shindell's storytelling and his yearning, angst-ridden vocals cut through the mix and straight to your heart.

-- Seth Rogovoy