I once called Krista Detor the finest singer-songwriter you've never heard of, a designation that more than likely didn't please her because, as it turns out, a lot of people have heard of her. What I meant to suggest is that she's an artist of the first rank, who deserves to be spoken of in the hushed and reverent tones that people use when they discuss Joni Mitchell, Janis Ian, Nancy Griffith and Rosanne Cash.

Yes, she's that good but, so far, she hasn't broken through the way those artists did. Detor has built a solid career, both in this country and Europe, but mass stardom has eluded her. In a just world Flat Earth Diary would change that. It's a fine album. Detor's writing is top rate -- challenging, sincere, unique and beautiful in every way. Her songs are incisive and sharp and just unusual enough to sound like nothing you've heard before. Yet, for all of their originality, her songs are instantly familiar, establishing the type of connection you feel when you meet someone and feel as if you've known this person all your life and that he or she is destined to become your best friend -- immediately.

Take "Bridges," for example, a song about looking back on better times before you burned your bridges. A ballad, it begins with a standard guitar riff but it keeps going off in unexpected directions, both musically and lyrically. It's a masterful writing job, creating and then toying with a set of expectations. It becomes, almost instantly, a favorite song, and it lingers at the edges of your mind like a half-forgotten secret. Detor's performance of the song is dead on, a bullseye.

Here's what it all boils down to: Krista Detor has released her best album yet, and you should all help her get all of the mainstream success she deserves by buying it.

[ visit the artist's website ]