Randy Travis has recorded the perfect country album. There is not one out-of-place note nor one false emotion on his superb new Around the Bend collection. His vocals have never sounded more expressive, better phrased or more soulfully shaded. The CD's production is a model of crisp clarity. Each instrumental texture is placed just right.

And then there are the songs. Each seems tailored to suit one mood or another of his sublimely burnished baritone. The bopping "Every Head Bowed," for instance, is one chuckle after another, while "From Your Knees" is a midtempo pounder full of drama and despair. The rocking "Til I'm Dead and Gone" is a working man's lament with a red-hot guitar groove. Around one corner, you'll find "Dig Two Graves" as a ballad of deepening love. Around another, there's the wryly amusing toe-tapper "Everything I Own (Has Got a Dent)."