Tennessee Plates (1995)

Mark Collie emerges on Tennessee Plates as a better interpreter than a writer. He infuses John Hiatt's title song with octane-in-the-veins restlessness and raises beads of sweat on ''Tunica Motel,'' Tony Joe White's tale of subterranean fear and loathing. In a time of pretty-boy wonders, Collie is the rare hitmaker who tries hard to follow his muse. B