Suzy Bogguss issued her fine Swing album in 2003. Other than a Christmas recording -- why does every artist feel the need to issue one of those? -- she hasn't released anything in four years. She's toured hard, written songs, and spent her time and energy conceiving the provocative Sweet Danger. Bogguss may no longer be on the country charts, but perhaps with contemporary country's willingness to embrace other American popular song forms she may end up there yet again. For the listener, it doesn't matter. The reason is simply that Sweet Danger is the finest moment in a long career. Bogguss has undergone a metamorphosis as a musician. It's plainly obvious from the opening moments of the album's opening cut, The Bus Ride. The big minor-key piano chords, hand percussion, and muted drum kit give way to a tasty acoustic guitar lead and it's all reminiscent of Steely Dan's Do It Again. The similarity ends there in a sense, because when Bogguss opens her mouth and lets the story begin to fall from her, it's all her. But the music here owes more to jazz and samba than country -- no matter how hip and inclusive its industry says it is, stuff like this would terrify the production formula-obsessed producers in mainstream Nash Vegas. Her style is inimitable, no matter what she's singing. Unlike most vocalists these days, Bogguss is a singer and a stylist. She takes a lyric and makes it a scenario, a gauzy filmic episode. The shimmering finger-popping groove in Everything owes as much to Sergio Mendes as it does to Diane Warren; a button accordion accompanies a piano, acoustic guitars, and restrained but ever-present percussion, floating her tale of romantic ambivalence. Her lines alternate speaker to speaker; tag lines come from the ether. There are some curious selections here, such as a cover of Peter Cetera's monster smash If You Leave Me Now. While Bogguss does bring something different to the tune, it's not enough to keep you from hearing the original in your head.

1		The Bus Ride
2		Everything
3		No Good Way to Go
4		If You Leave Me Now
5		In Heaven
6		Baby July
7		Even If That Were True
8		Chain Lover
9		Sweet Danger
10		Right Back into the Feeling
11		It's Not Gonna Happen Today
12		One Clear Moment