Robyn Ludwick

If "Hollywood" doesn't grab the heart and squeeze it, Out of These Blues cozies up so quickly with "For You Baby" that the fire blazes, and "Steady" is a bottle of wine ready to complete seduction. Robyn Ludwick comes by this skill naturally – brothers Bruce and Charlie Robison made good on the family name long ago – but she's more of a free-agent Margo Timmins wielding the guitar. Ludwick's toughest challenges are the inevitable comparisons to Lucinda Williams ("Jealous Son"), a complimentary way of saying her songwriting gets under your skin, especially when she treads Williams' turf ("New Orleans") or unabashedly bleeds ("Fight Song"). Bringing in Gurf Morlix as producer and instrumentalist heightens that perception until Morlix does what he does best by tuning his ear to the songwriter's key. The result is grand. "I Am" is a milestone Ludwick composition, the grace note that sends Out of These Blues floating into the ether, lingering for eternity.