Jessi Colter

Producer Don Was gives Jessi Colter’s Out of the Ashes a gratifyingly dry post-Willie Mitchell groove, and Colter boasts pop moves. The cover of Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” contextualizes this female outlaw, while her own “Starman” bears comparison to the David Bowie song of the same name. The nervous electric-piano figure mutates into an inspired, thrown-away chorus complete with saucy backing vocals, and the fade features decadent saxophone riffs. It’s glam-rock and it’s country as Colter taunts a guy who’s coming on to her: “Starman, shine your light away from me/You’re gonna have to bleed for me.”