River, Bonnie Montgomery, CD

Raised in rural Arkansas on a soundtrack of southern gospel, Texas swing, Delta blues, and Ozark bluegrass, Bonnie Montgomery trained as an opera singer before launching her award-winning career in outlaw country. She embraces that diversity with 2023's River, a versatile record that shows just how broad Montgomery's vision of American roots music can be. Arriving on the heels of projects like Billy Blythe, her critically-acclaimed opera about Bill Clinton's childhood, and Forever, the 2018 solo record that earned Montgomery the titles of "Best Americana Artist" and "Best Female Vocalist" from the Arkansas County Music Awards, River flows freely from one genre to the next. It's the crystallization of a sound Montgomery has been creating for years, blurring the boundaries between different formats while presenting Montgomery not only as a powerhouse vocalist, but as an autobiographical storyteller and captivating songwriter, too.