Never a week seems to go by at my home without a CD from someone I've never heard of but taken a chance on dropping onto my doormat. A couple of weeks ago, it was the turn of Claire Holley and her second album "Dandelion". Again, the purchase hinged upon a recommendation from buying something else and I was once again pleasantly surprised. Whilst labelled as 'country rock', the album covers more territory than that - if I was pushed, it would apply to the first track only.

Her eponymously-titled debut album was released in 2001 and by all accounts it was a little gem, packed full of self-penned songs about personal experiences and locations. Whilst "Dandelion" does seem to be a little bit more polished, this is inevitable as the process of writing and performing is a learning experience. The polish does provide a healthy contrast between the tracks in the album, and there's not enough to leave a sickening crunch between the songs when the styles change. It's clear that the quality has not been sacrificed for the sake of commercial gain. All of the songs on "Dandelion" are still written by the artist herself with one being inspired by a line from a poem by Yeats. In fact, you know you're going to get the basics, performed well with no excess baggage when the cover of the CD is simply a picture of the artist and her guitar.

1. 6 Miles To McKenney
2. Dandelion
3. Henry's
4. Sugar
5. Waiting For The Whales
6. Love Never Came
7. Playground
8. The Singer
9. Tread Softly
10. Waving Goodbye
11. The Deep

The mood and style slide towards the acoustic end of the spectrum in the next couple of tracks, the sublime title track "Dandelion" and "Henry's", a simply-yet-brilliantly executed piece of music about a barman watching his customers one evening. From an initial high, the latter drops down to a slow, melancholy wandering, Holley's vocals unhindered by competing accompaniment. She doesn't need to strain or stretch here and the song is all the better for it.

"Love Never Came" puts the album firmly back in commercial street although there's no sell-out since it's effortlessly performed and builds up to the break with an air of self-confidence that might be associated with a much more famous artist. "Playground" and "The Singer" drop back into the acoustic mould and domestic situations whilst "Tread Softly" is a short (1.04) instrumental. "Waving Goodbye" and "The Deep" round off "Dandelion" with more familiar acoustic territory.