Her voice goes down smooth and easy and she's comfortable with her music. Sally Shuffield's blending of Arkansas country and bluegrass and Western folk is fluid and sweet on her newest release, "Ties That Bind."

With a lineup of extrordinary musicians, including the incomparable Sally Van Meter on dobro/resophonic guitar and Weissenborn and Shuffield's sister Alice harmonizing on vocals, "Ties..." is one great recording.

The 13 original tracks were coproduced by Greg Schochet and Ed Caner, who also offer fiddle and mandolin throughout the CD to give it a traditional feel. And, Sally's pure crystal clear voice and honest lyrical style only enhance the overall effect.

The Arkansas-born, Colorado-based songer/songwriter has penned tunes that evoke a sense of place, and family history in songs that are both sad and hopeful. Melodic composition and isntrumentation combine to add substance to the emotional effect as well.

The best tunes on the CD include:

the title track, which sets an overall tone for the CD. Sally's silky smooth voice (supported by her sister) and acoustic guitar, Greg's mandolin, Ed's fiddle, and Brian McDougall providing a nice bass foundation provide a nice team on this toe-tapper.

And getting the nod for the best on the CD -- it's a tie> "All Roads Lead to You" and "South Carolina" represent the best of the instruments, melodies and vocals.

"All Roads..." is actually a swinging, swaying love song featuring Greg on electric guitar this time (sounding very country), Christian Teele on percussion and the sweet backup vocals of Celeste Krentz. But it's Sally's voice that really carries this one. Her sweet, alternating southern/out-west pronunciation glides over the words. She sounds downright seductive as her voice drops to a near moan at the end of line-starting words. This is one nice tune.

"South Carolina" is a sad tale done in storytelling style, slightly monotonic and haunting with a cool voice inflection just the opposite of "All Roads." Here, the instruments carry the load and pull it off wonderfully, led by Sally Van Meter's gorgeous resophonic guitar.

If you love bluegrass without the nasal twang, well-written traditional themes, pretty vocals and great instrumentation that mixes a little country and americana into your sound, then this in one for your permanent listening collection and pleasure.