IRON FLOWERS - DELISLE, GREY [CD]

Alt-country chanteuse Grey DeLisle shows that her brand of Americana respects no boundaries by opening Iron Flowers with a passage from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," recast as a yearning ballad for autoharp and steel guitar. From there, her most eclectic release to date extends DeLisle's musical territory from a romantic anthem worthy of Bruce Springsteen or Phil Spector ("Joanna") to bare-bones gospel ("God's Got It") to garage-band rock ("Blue Heart"), with even a reprise of the Queen homage (the chiming guitars that provide the coda for "Right Now"). For all the album's musical variety, the high drama of DeLisle's tremulous vocal quaver gives the project a unifying artistic imprint, framed by the spare arrangements and atmospheric effects of producer Marvin Etzioni. With the folky, acoustic "Sweet Little Bluebird" and the straightforward country of "Inside Texas," DeLisle closes the collection with a return to the rootsier side of her music, as if she's been on an adventure and is now bringing it all back home. --Don McLeese