Record Rack

*** Sara Evans, “No Place That Far,” RCA. The Missouri farm girl’s second album ranges impressively enough from gospel bluegrass to chiming, Byrds-inflected country rock to make some predictable material worth overlooking. Five tunes she co-wrote--among the album’s strongest--demonstrate her songwriting skills. She’s also a strong singer in the Patty Loveless mold, but with more expressiveness.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.