THIS is Rosanne Cash's first studio album for ten years, an absence explained in part by the long-term loss of her voice.

Some days, over more than two years, she couldn't even speak. Eventually, she wrestled her voice back and did the Linda Thompson trick: breaking a long silence with an impressive album. For those in search of a link, Linda's son, Teddy Thompson, pops up here in a clear-headed duet, Three Steps Down. The collaborations are the strongest points in this album, most notably on the beautiful September When It Comes, on which Rosanne sings with her increasingly frail father, the country singer Johnny Cash. "I cannot move a mountain now/ I can no longer run," offers Cash, in a rumble of emotion. Rosanne also duets with Sheryl Crow on the ebullient opener, Beautiful Pain, and steps into the ring with Steve Earle for I'll Change For You, a bout of gruff, closed-in eroticism.

Updated: 10:00 Thursday, April 24, 2003