Caroline Herring confidently returns to the forefront of the American roots music scene with her new album Lantana. The Mississippi-born, Atlanta-based singer/songwriter took the producing helm for the first time on the new record, co-producing with long-time collaborator Rich Brotherton (Robert Earl Keen). Intimate, powerful and honest, Lantana is a masterpiece of understated intensity and in many ways an artistic re-birth for Herring. After making a name for herself in Mississippi as band member and co-founder of the now renowned Thacker Mountain Radio music series, Herring moved to Austin, TX. Herring quickly took the town by storm, releasing the critically acclaimed debut album, Twilight. She won Best New Artist at both the 2002 SXSW Austin Music Awards and also from the Austin American Statesman. Herring soon after released an equally impressive follow-up, Wellspring. In many ways Lantana is Herring"s re-imaging of the Gothic South, with a rich alto voice that soothes the listener even as she addresses difficult subjects. Herring has a journalist"s eye for detail, a poet"s sense of scale and language, and a life-long Southerner"s understanding of the issues that shape the culture below the Mason Dixon line. There is no artifice on Lantana. It"s an album full of delights, lyrically and musically. And just like Caroline Herring, her new album is the real thing.