SOUND CHECK.

FAITH HILL: ``Fireflies'' (Warner Bros.) - Two stars

Despite Hill's new hair color, this is not a total back-to-the-roots makeover. Three years after the bland pop barnstormer ``Cry,'' the eclectic ``Fireflies'' spotlights good Nashville songwriting, adds a little Latin spice and, thankfully, sees Hill toning down the histrionics.

Longtime fans and country radio programmers, if few others, will find much to celebrate. The first single, ``Mississippi Girl,'' brings Hill full circle to where she began, before she became a cover girl, crossover star, actress and Tim McGraw's missus. Big & Rich's John Rich, among Music City's most in-demand tunesmiths, composed the biographical song expressly for Hill, and the track comes very close to convincing.

Other highlights in this ballads-heavy set also come by way of Rich's pen. Curtain-raiser ``Sunshine and Summertime'' is as homespun as Hill can possibly get, while ``Like We Never Loved at All,'' featuring guest vocals from McGraw, is destined to become one of the summer's shopping mall hits.

With unexpectedly good writers and musicians in her corner, and a slightly less formulaic approach to the whole thing, Hill is about to make another fortune.

- Fred Shuster

UNCLE EARL: ``She Waits for Night'' (Rounder) - Three and one half stars

No guys, actually, in this old-timey string quartet. Maybe the gals named their band after the illustrious Mr. Scruggs? They ain't saying, but they sure are playing - and singing - in tight formations that sound like a more assertive version of The Be Good Tanyas. It's mostly ancient mountain and Southern tunes, a few authentic-sounding originals and an ironic Irish seagoing saga, all done in impeccable folk style. Banjoist extraordinaire Abigail Washburn has an equally beguiling solo album, ``Song of the Traveling Daughter,'' where some of the songs are in Mandarin Chinese.

- Bob Strauss

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(1) no caption (Faith Hill)

Michael Caulfield/WireImage.com

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