Men & Mascara (2006)

If contemporary country's gotten too gosh-darn cheerful for you, your cheated-upon heart should warm to Julie Roberts' sophomore effort, Men & Mascara, where pretty much every ballad has the heroine dragged through the dirt and narrowly escaping some love dysfunction. It's akin to Lee Ann Womack's fine There's More Where That Came From, likewise produced by Bryon Gallimore, and it even prompts the same minor complaint: Would including just one upbeat track have killed 'em? But Roberts sounds like she's really lived every romantic near-death experience here.