Personnel includes: Allison Moorer (vocals, acoustic guitar); Lonesome Bob (vocals); Kenny Greenberg, Rick Plant (acoustic & electric guitar, banjo); Buddy Miller (electric guitar); Russ Pahl (pedal steel); Chris Carmichael, Joe Spivey (fiddle); The Nashville String Machine (strings); Marty Stuart (mandolin); Jim Hoke (harmonica); Jay Bennett (piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Michael Rhodes (bass); Chad Cromwell (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Louise Red, Rick Schell, Louis Nunley, Dennis Wilson, Harry Stinson, (background vocals).

Producers: Kenny Greenberg, Doyle Primm, Allison Moorer.

Country singer Allison Moorer's sophomore effort is so far removed from the early 21st century cookie cutter Nashville pop norm it's somewhat astonishing. The gorgeous title song--with fiddle, mandolin, and banjo no less--is straight out of the Hank Williams Snr. songbook, but the song that follows is it a big mid-tempo rocker that sounds like the Black Crowes doing the Stones. And that's followed by a '60s style country weeper with full string section that could be a lost Patsy Cline record.

And so it goes for the rest of the album, so let's just say that Moorer--who's quite a powerful singer (think a higher-pitched version of Cher with a twang) is refreshingly eclectic and leave it at that, adding only that Jay Bennett of alt country rockers Wilco is all over the place here, notably playing Mellotron--specifically the same flute sounds heard on the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever"--on "Send Me Down an Angel." THE HARDEST PART is quite an album--and don't miss the harrowing and intensely personal hidden bonus track.

Rolling Stone (10/12/00, p.90) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...The album meshes, the music is transporting....Moorer delivers with conviction and authority..."

Entertainment Weekly (12/29/00, p.146) - Ranked #3 in EW's Top 3 Country Albums of 2000.

Entertainment Weekly (10/6/00, p.87) - "...A smoldering set of torch and twang so original and seductive it sounds like an altered state..." - Rating: A