Soul Journey by Gillian Welch

Soul Journey, Gillian Welch's fourth studio album, came out on Acony Records on June 9, 2003, and like everything else under her name it was made hand in hand with David Rawlings, who produced. Two years after Time (The Revelator), it's also the record where the pair let a little daylight in.

Welch and Rawlings built their reputation on a spare, often dark sound steeped in Appalachian music, bluegrass and country, but here the tempo lifts, the mood brightens and the arrangements fill out, with drums and electric guitar joining the old-time picking for the first time. It still sounds hand-sewn, bluesy and a little ragged at the hem, with Rawlings' guitar darting around Welch's plain, steady voice. "Look at Miss Ohio" is the one people keep coming back to, a gently rueful tune that sounds as if it has been around forever. It was the last album under her name for eight years.

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