It's unfortunate that Terri Clark gained her highest chart debut with "Girls Lie Too," a hideously cartoonish song that perpetuates stereotypes about the sexes and, by its success, about country music fans. Clark, a Canadian tomboy in a rakish and attitudinal cowboy hat, has always played on her image as an independent female yearning for a relationship as strong as her personality. That worked well on a number of early songs, especially "Better Things to Do" and on the new "One of the Guys." But clearly she's yearned to expand her subject matter, and in recording songs co-written with Kim Richey, Beth Nielsen Chapman, and Mary Chapin Carpenter (a live version of their "No Fear" appears here), she nurtured the questioning side of her inner singer-songwriter. Clark has never really fit any kind of niche, and one suspects she's now caught between trying to stay alive commercially and satisfying herself as an artist. Greatest Hits is a colorful road map to the first 10 years of her journey, even as she seems to be doubling back on certain stretches of that highway. --Alanna Nash

Guaranteed to work or your money back - PLEASE NOTE ALL MONIES FROM THIS SALE GO TO A 501 (C)3 NO KILL ANIMAL SHELTER

2009 album from the Country singer/songwriter. With more than four million albums sold to date and nearly a dozen #1 and Top 10 hits to her credit, Terri Clark has emerged as a singular voice on the Country music landscape - she's driven, passionate, spirited and every bit her own woman. On The Long Way Home, Clark assumes true ownership of her music, making an album to her own truth. The result is a record that captures the tides of adult lives, great passions, and the struggles that mark her journey. It may be The Long Way Home, but songs like 'Gypsy Boots' and 'A Million Ways To Run,' prove that it was absolutely worth the journey for Clark.

Australian exclusive tour edition of the country act's 2003 album features 22 tracks including a bonus disc that offers a sampling of her earlier albums with ten extra tracks, 'Better Things To Do', 'When Boy Meets Girl', 'If I Were You', 'Emotional Girl'

Guaranteed to work or your money back - PLEASE NOTE ALL MONIES FROM THIS SALE GO TO A 501 (C)3 NO KILL ANIMAL SHELTER

Guaranteed to work or your money back - PLEASE NOTE ALL MONIES FROM THIS SALE GO TO A 501 (C)3 NO KILL ANIMAL SHELTER

Don't expect any surprises from Life Goes On, this mostly uptempo showcase for one of modern country's more buoyant singers. After all, Terri Clark's made a 10-year career of wrapping her big-boned voice around stories of dreamers, lovers, and the heartbroken and turning them into hits, expertly and brightly accompanied by crack session musicians. Nonetheless, there are some outstanding performances here. The title track and "Damn Right" are pure pop, the former a catchy nod to the joys of life's Zen-like surprises, the latter a rhyme-packed ditty about an ex-lover. "I Wish He'd Been Drinkin' Whiskey" veers into classic tear-in-your-beer territory with its sobering tale of a split-up. The autobiographical piano ballad "Travelin' Soul" waxes about the joys and insecurities that come with the pursuit of dreams and gives Clark a chance to explore the soft side of her singing. She stays in heartbreak territory for the Dobro-and-acoustic-guitar-charged "Everybody's Gotta Go Sometime" and the stomping "Tear It All Down." And "Slow News Days" is one of her rare topical numbers, gently admonishing our media-mad culture and urging people to look to their hearts rather than the headlines for what's best about humanity. --Ted Drozdowski

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