On the sleeve of her first solo album in 17 years, Alison Krauss stares out into the middle distance. This sense of detachment often seeps into her singing, and on Windy City she leaves little else to chance.

The songs are predominantly country classics, the playing is pin sharp, and the man Krauss hired to pull it all together, noted Nashville producer Buddy “Ears” Cannon, delivers a paragon of intelligent country sheen. It is a winning blend of something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue (the songs all ache in one form or another). But Krauss’s tendency to cool perfection masks a vulnerability that would set this album alight.

And yet, conversely, it is hard to deny the grace and flair of the spirited It's Goodbye and So Long to You, Willy Nelson's deliciously ironic I Never Cared for You and the sweeping majesty of Roger Miller's River in the Rain. alisonkrauss.com