There are two kinds of women in country and roots music: Pop-tart bimbos like Shania and Faith who seem to be doing their best to ruin it, and honky-tonk angels who do their best to keep it alive. The latter group includes women like Lucinda, Gillian and Emmylou, Neko. And now Mary Gauthier.

Nashville-based but Louisiana-raised, Gauthier is a dark-hearted Southern gothic singer-songwriter of the first order, weaving a haunting spell with her world-weary twang and unflinching tales of drifters, drugs and downtrodden lovers. Filth & Fire, her addictive third album, will likely remind many of Lucinda, partly for its tragic narratives -- largely inspired, we suspect, by Mary's sordid past, which reportedly includes bouts of drug abuse and incarceration -- and partly because it was produced by Williams' erstwhile collaborator Gurf Morlix.

But Gauthier is no one-note copycat; her sound is all her own, acknowledging the influence of everyone from Bobbie Gentry to John Prine and incorporating everything from reggae to tear-in-your-beer country.

Don't be surprised if Gauthier turns out to be roots music's Next Big Thing. And just remember where you heard it first.

Track Listing
1. Walk Through the Fire
2. Long Way to Fall
3. Sugar Cane
4. Merry Go Round
5. Good-Bye
6. Camelot Motel
7. After You're Gone
8. Ledge
9. Christmas in Paradise
10. For Rose
11. Sun Fades the Color of Everything