It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I love me some Kasey Chambers. Her first two solo records, The Captain and Barricades And Brickwalls are nothing short of masterpieces with a few OK songs mixed in. If I had to choose only one of the records to take a deserted island, I would miss the boat because I just couldn't pick (although the vulnerability and honesty of The Captain still takes my breath away).

Kasey has two more records called Wayward Angel and Carnival that I just couldn't quite get into. I tried for the love of Kasey, but they just seemed a bit too pop laden and formulaic for me, although they seemed to crack into the greater consciousness - I even heard her songs in Nordstrom and piped throughout Pacific Place Mall last holiday season.

Earlier this year I started hearing rumblings of a new record with her Brand New Husband Shane Nicholson, who in their native Australia was a respected musician in his own right. I was intrigued and the intrigue grew after hearing a couple of songs on the web since the record was released in Australia before its US release this month. It took great resolve for me to not order the kinda pricey import version, but I held off...

Well, Rattlin' Bones is nothing short of brilliant and might compete as her best work yet. Chambers' and Nicholson's voices meld together beautifully and every track features each of them in varying degrees without ever falling into typical duet trappings. I know, seems weird, but you have to hear it to know what I mean!

Every single track stands on its own and together they make one heck of a record. The one thing though that I gotta complain about (it’s one of my pet peeves) is that at the beginning of track six, “The House That Never Was,” they left in a little blooper where they start off with a missed cue and then start over, giggling. Sorta cute and home-style, but the track itself is really a great song and I already wish they would have just left that part off the final recording. Oh yeah, and I could live without their toddler daughter singing at the end of the record, but at least now I know to turn it off before it gets there.

Besides those two little things, this might be one of the greatest records I have ever heard. No shit.