By: Andrew Dansby
rollingstone.com

Terri Hendrix
The Ring
(Wilory Records)

The fourth studio recording by this Texas square peg is (almost) bookended by a pair of tunes that neatly set up the wide parameters for the breadth of her talent. The opening "Goodbye Charlie Brown," like the work of its title-character’s creator, skillfully finds adult observations in its childlike vessel. In between are bits of whimsical pop ("Consider Me") surreal folk ("I Found the Lions") and bundles more. The wood-and-wireness of Hendrix’s songcraft almost demands the folk tag, but her smooth and nimble phrasing suggest something jazzier (particularly on the likes of "From Another Planet"), though that influence still creeps in even when she isn’t scatting with fleet dexterity. Those bells and whistles aside, it’s the album’s other bookend, the title track, that best reps Hendrix. A perfectly hatched story song pulled from the pages of her family history, "The Ring" is told with the simplicity and detail of the best songsmiths—right down to the hard perfection of its title object, which is both a limitless metaphor and a detail as small and tangible as the metal from which is composed. – Andrew Dansby