SHAWN COLVIN

Procuring master guitarist and Nashville alt-country staple Buddy Miller as producer ensures authenticity in the Americana world—just ask Robert Plant, who tapped him for 2010’s Band of Joy—but Shawn Colvin needs no such thing for her first new album in six years. Her history with Miller is very different. She sang in his band early on and later toured with him, Emmylou Harris and Patty Griffin as Three Girls and Their Buddy. Like her other seven studio albums, All Fall Down skillfully documents Colvin’s emotional ups and downs with honesty and humility. Producer Miller recruits numerous guest stars, including Harris, Alison Krauss, Jakob Dylan, Bill Frisell and Mary Chapin Carpenter—yet the songs, especially supple ballads like “On My Own,” “Change Is on the Way” and “Fall of Rome,” never sound forced or overplayed. Likewise, “I Don’t Know You” and the title track build gracefully before culminating in compelling refrains. It’s those nuances that keep All Fall Down standing tall. –Lee Zimmerman