Texas Platters

Quite a few women have traveled the roads paved by Lucinda Williams. Seldom do they get to the heart of the matter like Christy Hays. This six-song effort, a follow-up to her impressive 2012 debut Drought, finds the Tuscola, Ill.-born Austin resident all over the musical map yet with definite folk and country roots. "Am I Tired" opens with accordion-spiced Tex-Mex, while Jonathan Terrell of Not in the Face joins for a bittersweet duet, "White Lie," a tune bursting with hurt. "I don't mind the rain, I don't mind the cold, because I see a big sun coming," sings Hays on "Sun," the disc's most fully realized tune. It starts softly, just voice and acoustic guitar, then blossoms into an anthem of hope and the benefits of a positive attitude. Too short? Not as a primer of a local singer-songwriter promising bigger and brighter dividends.