With Love & Circumstance Carrie Rodriguez demonstrates (if you weren't already convinced by her spectacular sophomore album, She Ain't Me) that she has fully matured into a confident and commanding solo artist, in spite of (or perhaps, because of) the fact that the new album consists entirely of covers. Like Emmylou Harris with her 1995 masterpiece, Wrecking Ball, Carrie mines and polishes gems of other songwriters, delivering them in her own unique style. Carrie's voice is sweet and relaxed with a natural twang, perfectly matched to a soundtrack that is both ethereal (similar to, but not to the same extent as Carrie's first two solo albums and Harris' Wrecking Ball) and rootsy.