The latest releases reviewed.

MINDY SMITH Long Island Shores Vanguard ****

This is a willowy slow-burner. Mindy Smith is a highly regarded singer-songwriter out of Nashville who was raised on Long Island by a minister and his wife after they adopted her at birth. There is an otherworldliness to her voice and songs on this, her second album, that is redolent of someone like Patty Griffin - though Smith, understandably, has a much stronger fix on matters spiritual. Equally, her singing is marked by a tenderness and thoughtfulness that is mirrored in the songs and playing, which is not surprising with the likes of guitarists Buddy Miller and Bryan Sutton involved. Indeed, Miller duets with Smith on one of the album's outstanding tracks, What If the World Stops Turning, a model of the kind of folk-pop to which Smith seems naturally drawn. www.mindysmith.net Joe Breen