Rodney Crowell: Greatest Hits (1993)

Once a leader in the Nashville school of progressive songwriting, Crowell slipped into a hit-and-miss pattern at the start of the '90s. Now, as he leaves Columbia to reunite with producer Tony Brown at MCA, he pads out the best of the old material with three new songs- one a gospel-rockabilly charmer with Take 6 and another with Mary-Chapin Carpenter. Even when the writing turns uneven, Crowell's soaring tenor-shades of young Roy Orbison-usually saves the day.