After years of major label exposure, Christian singer/songwriter Cindy Morgan took the indie route in search of artistic fulfillment. She finds it on Beautiful Bird, an enthralling mélange of traditional gospel, modern country, and contemporary folk-pop. Morgan seems to revel in a newfound freedom as she makes some of the most personal and well-realized music of her career. In optimistic tunes like “When It’s Love” and “I Wish,” she avoids stale homilies in favor of plainspoken wisdom matched with inviting melodies. “Lion and the Lamb” takes this idealism to lofty heights in its invocation of the hereafter. There’s room for shadows in her musical vision as well, evidenced by the brooding atmosphere of “Lay Me Down.” Several tracks — particularly the twang-accented “Two Roads” — suggest that Morgan might find a home on country radio at some point, but heartfelt songs like “Most of All” make it clear that she is standing fast as a committed Christian talent. Though released below the commercial radar, Beautiful Bird is not an insular, self-indulgent project. These songs are open-hearted and wide-ranging, the work of an artist free of constraint.