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A mainstay of the festival circuit and blues clubs, Marcia Ball is a captivating performer and a one-woman ambassador for the south Louisiana sound she loves. This, her third Rounder album, dates from 1989. It's a mostly self-composed program that doesn't quite capture the joy of her live shows, but comes close at times. Of all the new songs, "The Power of Love" is best. It's a beautifully poised performance that grows slowly and inexorably from a two-minute vocal-piano intro. Some of the songs are built around the mournful swamp-pop chord changes; others around Cajun two-steps. The album closes with country star LeRoy Parnell's "Red Hot," which has since become one of her show-closers. --Colin Escott