Amid the outlaws and good ol' boys and cowboys in country music, there's a group that's as smart and cool as they are down-home. Inside that circle of men's men is Rosanne Cash, who often teams up with her husband, Rodney Crowell, an ace songwriter himself, or maybe Vince Gill, one of the most promising talents in Nashville. If she chooses to sing somebody else's song, it might be by a clever guy like John Hiatt, whose "Pink Bedroom" she flies through on her new record, or maybe Tom Petty and Benmont Tench, whose "Never Be You" she also covers. Wise and thoughtful, she turns phrases without ever turning out the maudlin inanities that are rampant in C&W music. But she's made a fifth album that's too light for such a heavy hitter.

Her big winners in the past, songs like "Seven Year Ache," were half country and half rock, sung half flirty, half tough. They had an edge. But similar tunes here – "Hold On" and "Halfway House" and "Never Alone" – seem to be missing the quirky parts, though the melodies are strong. The arrangements are just too neat; nothing gritty sticks to them – it's all too reminiscent of a Linda Ronstadt record.

Instead, the impressive performances on Rhythm and Romance are the really slow, autobiographical songs that feel as if Cash is confiding the lyrics. "Second to No One" is a painful, delicately worded song about being two-timed. "She thinks she's got the key to your heart/Now I've got to wait by the door," Cash sings in her clear alto. In "Closing Time," the LP's final song, she offers to trade everything for romance: "I'd close down this heart tomorrow/Leave without a fight/Say goodbye to your sweet memory/If I can lie in your arms tonight." And there's one for her dad, Johnny Cash: a piece that risks baring enormous feeling.

There are no clinkers, and it all sounds beautiful, but the record should've been more of a tussle. This time around, Rosanne could have used a little of her stepsister Carlene Carter's rowdy good humor and a bit of her dad's rough touch. (RS 454)

DEBBY BULL