Rosanne Cash’s work as a mainstream country artist was always of a high caliber, and the music she made in the ‘90s after her breakup with Rodney Crowell proved to be even more interesting. The Wheel’s songs unfold like diary pages, full of unresolved emotions and fragile hopes. Co-producer John Leventhal helps Cash achieve a backlit folk-rock sound full of chiming guitars and insinuating keyboards. They frame a batch of highly literate lyrics detailing a full range of experience, from post-heartache angst (“Change Partners”) to nagging jealousy (“Roses In The Fire”) and awakening passion (“Fire Of The Newly Alive”). A sense of epiphany shines through “If There’s A God On My Side” (a song addressed to a female deity). Glimpses of Manhattan (“Seventh Avenue”) and points abroad (“Sleeping In Paris”) give this album a cosmopolitan air. Cash’s dusky alto vocals lend gravity to the serious-minded themes of these songs. The Wheel doesn’t make for light entertainment — but if you’re looking for honesty and insight, it more than delivers.