**1/2 Nanci Griffith

BLUE ROSES FROM THE MOON

(Elektra)

In Nanci Griffith's musical mythology, roses are blue, so is the moon, and a life is measured in distances of time, blacktop, and the great expanses of the heart. Such down-home symbolism, evoked in the sweetest soprano west of Nashville, helped the native Texan stake and claim "folkabilly" as her corner of country music back in 1978, and it remains at the core of the songs on her 13th album.

Griffith is at her most poignant and powerful when telling small tales about big truths. When she swaps portraits for confessionals (a lyrical style that she first experimented with on 1994's Flyer), self-revelation gets riddled with clichés: "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "We're Two of a Kind," "Maybe Tomorrow." But the simplicity and grace of "Saint Teresa of Avila" is pure folk poetry, and the rootsy "Gulf Coast Highway" inspires frequent singing partner Darius Rucker (of Hootie fame) to a soulfulness that he'd do well to take to his own band. The still shit-kicking Crickets, Buddy Holly's legendary band and Nanci's heroes, juice up around half the tracks, especially Sonny Curtis's "I Fought the Law," a vintage slice of Texas roadhouse resurrected with a mess of guitars and scrappy voices.

-- Joan Anderman