

Singer Lillie Mae Rische’s tough-and-tender debut recalls a lot of things: the outlaw country of Willie Nelson and Guy Clark, the well-worn Americana of Lucinda Williams, the fiddling traditions she grew up with. But Forever also establishes her as her own strong-willed voice, from the spirited “Honky Tonks and Taverns” to the stunning “Loaner”—sweetly sung stories whose messages of heartache and bootstraps make Rische sound far older than her 26 years.