01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, June 4, 2006

Rhonda Vincent

All American Bluegrass Girl (Rounder)

The Wall Street Journal, that bastion of bluegrass, has anointed Rhonda Vincent "the new queen of bluegrass."

I'm not sure who the old queen was. But the label definitely fits.

Since her return to bluegrass in 2000, Vincent has picked up an unprecedented six consecutive female vocalist of the year awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association. And All American Bluegrass Girl is an album without an ounce of fat.

The title cut, one of three Vincent wrote, is an uptempo salute to the legends of bluegrass by an artist who is rapidly becoming one herself. Dolly Parton sings harmony on "Heartbreaker's Alibi," a hard-charging song about a woman who has caught her man cheating. And Bobby Osborne joins Vincent on "Midnight Angel," a stone country song he wrote.

Band members Josh Williams and Mickey Harris share lead vocals with Vincent on the Roy Acuff classic "Precious Jewel." Williams' voice blends so well with Vincent's that you're left hoping for a duet album.

There's plenty of gospel -- "Don't Act," "Jesus Built A Bridge To Heaven" and "Prettiest Flower There." And the album reflects the times in which we live with "God Bless The Soldier" and "Till They Come Home."

Another Vincent masterpiece.

Have trouble finding it in stores? Try www.rounder.com.

-- KEITH LAWRENCE

Owensboro (Ky.) Messenger-Inquirer

Rhonda Vincent is the headliner today at the Bluegrass Festival at Strawberry Park, 42 Pierce St., Preston, Conn. The show, running from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., also includes Dry Branch Fire Squad, King Wilkie, Nothin' Fancy and The Bluegrass Gospel Project. Tickets are $30 in cash at the gate. Call (888) 794-7944 or go to www.strawberrypark.net.

Vincent also is at the Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun Boulevard (exit 79A off Route 395), Uncasville, Conn., at 7 p.m. Aug. 6. There's no cover charge. Call (888) 226-7711, ext. 7163.

Ministry

Rio Grande Blood (13th Planet/Megaforce)

Ministry's Al Jourgensen isn't like those timid rockers who stay apolitical to preserve their fan bases. He's also not giving in to the "rage burnout" that has prompted some of President Bush's detractors to shift into apathy, though Ministry's relentlessly over-the-top Rio Grande Blood could cause a few listeners to go numb.

Rio Grande Blood picks up where Ministry's 2004 Bush-bashing Houses of the Mole left off, and it seems even more urgent as the war in Iraq -- the centerpiece of both albums -- drags on.

The industrial-rock icon even employs some of the same tricks on Rio Grande as he did on Houses, with Bush's quotes again getting cut and re-assembled to have him say such lines as, "I'm a dangerous, dangerous man" (as he does on the furious title-track opener). And on "Lies Lies Lies," a modulated voice incredulously asks, "Do you still think that jet fuel brought down the World Trade Center?" followed by a crowd's laughter.

The staying power of Jourgensen's anger matches that of his band (which includes guitarist Tommy Victor, bassist Paul Raven and drummer Mark Baker): For 50-odd minutes they all rail -- Jourgensen with screeches, Victor with machine-gun riffs, and Raven and Baker with breakneck rhythms. Many tracks are bracing from start to finish, while molten moments on others, such as "Senor Peligro" and "Fear (Is Big Business)," erupt into thrashing apocalypses.

Commanding as Rio Grande is, it has a superfluous air about it, even if Jourgensen can make the case that nothing that infuriates him about Bush has changed since Houses. However, the new release has inventive tricks to offset the redundancy, particularly "Gangreen's" spoof of military machismo (thanks to guest vocals by Sgt. Major) and an eerie "Khyber Pass" that pointedly leads to Jourgensen's screaming mantra, "Where's Bin Laden?"

So if you're exasperated with Bush and the war and you've just got to vent, here's your soundtrack.

-- CHUCK CAMPBELL

The Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel

Ministry is at the Palladium, 261 Main St., Worcester, at 8 p.m. June 16 with Revolting Cocks opening. Tickets are $29.50. Call (800) 477-6849 or go to www.tickets.com.

Slaid Cleaves

Unsung (Rounder)

What a cool concept: record an entire album of material from obscure singer-songwriters who just happen to be your friends. Slaid Cleaves first heard these songs from writers such as Steve Brooks, Graham Weber, Chris Montgomery, Michael O'Connor and JJ Baron on front porches, at open mikes, in hotel rooms and on ratty backstage couches.

Leaning on others for the words and music was a boon for the road-weary Cleaves, whose two previous albums, Broke Down and Wishbones, gave him the career he'd been fishing for, yet ate up his writing time.

But Unsung is also, perhaps, Cleaves' most challenging effort. Though he falls gracefully into Karen Poston's "Flowered Dresses," allows the echoes of Ana Egge's silent harmony to shade his version of "Fairest of Them All" and makes "Call It Sleep" sound like a new original, several of these songs are ones you'd never hear on a regular Cleaves album.

Brooks' "Everette," for instance, tears down New Orleans streets with a French carny tempo -- a far cry from Cleaves' sensitive, revealing folk songs. But he pulls it off wonderfully. Likewise with "Racecar Joe," a lighthearted, snare-shuffling number from Adam Carroll that loosens up the album at the midpoint.

As these songs string together like party guests arriving one by one, Cleaves' musical empathy resembles that of a method actor, out to get not only the words and melodies, but the motives behind them. He does more than interpret these fine songs; he makes them his own.

I can't imagine that anyone who contributed to this album isn't overjoyed to have lent Cleaves a song.

-- MICHAEL CORCORAN

Austin American-Statesman

Slaid Cleaves is at the Narrows Center for the Arts, 16 Anawan St., Fall River, at 8 p.m. Sept. 8. Tickets are $15 in advance, $17 day of show. Call (508) 324-1926 or go to www.ncfta.org.

Various Artists

Soundtrack: High School Musical (Special Edition) (Disney)

The initial single-disc soundtrack to the Disney Channel's enjoyable first foray into musicals is one of the year's biggest hits -- so what could be better than a two-disc edition?

No complaints here. When material is of the heart-pounding quality of "Get'cha Head in the Game," "When There Was Me and You" and "Stick to the Status Quo," and with talent like Zac Efron and Vanessa Anne Hudgens at center stage, we'll happily enroll a second time.

In addition to the soundtrack, this set comes with a bonus disc featuring eight karaoke tracks, plus a fold-out movie poster. Smart marketing for a smart product.

-- FRED SHUSTER

Los Angeles Daily News

Les Claypool

Of Whales and Woe (Prawn Song)

No one pops in a Les Claypool-related album expecting anything but madness. Of course, it's a palatable and highly amusing sort of madness, but it's madness all the same.

Claypool's well-worn lyrical themes (rednecks, seafaring and fishing, weird sexual disorders) come to the fore on Of Whales and Woe. The repetition of phrasing in songs like "Back Off Turkey" can test one's patience, but if you're a fan of this bass virtuoso you already know that.

This is a nimble, often impressively jazz-inflected collection of spiky aural sketches from one of modern music's most unique voices, even if that voice is 20 feet underwater and stoned out of his mind.

-- JOHN WENZEL

The Denver Post

Les Claypool plays at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, 79 Washington St., Providence, at 8:30 p.m. July 18. Tickets are $25; $32.50 reserved mezzanine. Call (401) 331-5876 or (401) 272-5876, or go to www.lupos.com.