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Shelby Lynne, "Just a Little Lovin' " (Lost Highway)

Shelby Lynne's latest disc is too stripped down. "Just a Little Lovin' " covers nine Dusty Springfield songs, and while Lynne should be saluted for resisting the temptation to serve up overblown renditions, she has ventured too far in the other direction.

Lynne sings these songs beautifully, her mix of sweetness and sass coaxing fresh emotions from the familiar melodies. But she rarely raises her voice, and when she steps away from the mike, it's as though the band members are looking at one another, waiting for someone to take the lead.

These sleepy arrangements would benefit from a saxophone, harmony vocals, even a tambourine. Sometimes more is more.

Steven Wine/Associated Press

• • •

Josh Turner, "Everything Is Fine" (MCA Nashville)

Like Alan Jackson and Brad Paisley, Josh Turner manages to create traditional-leaning country music without sounding out of date. Also like Jackson and Paisley, he's a songwriter with a family-man image who pushes boundaries and draws on sensuality and humor without ever sounding tasteless or playing on stereotypes.

On "Everything Is Fine," he continues that streak, starting with the initial hit, the randy, mile-a-minute love song "Firecracker." As in the past, he takes risks with material while emphasizing values that are important to him, including family and Christianity. He also eases into new territory with a smooth duet with R&B star Anthony Hamilton on the jazzy, sophisticated "Nowhere Fast."

With a distinctive baritone that can purr and growl like a four-barrel engine, Turner reaches into the past with a playfully revved-up take on "One Woman Man," a Johnny Horton hit George Jones took back up the charts in the '80s. But it's the originals where he shines, as on the playful, finger-snapping "So Not My Baby" and the lusty romance of the midtempo "Baby, I Go Crazy."

Michael McCall/Associated Press