COUNTRY

Carrie Underwood, "Storyteller" (Sony Nashville/Arista)

The title of Underwood's fifth album, her strongest yet, was clearly purposeful. While the Oklahoma native has firmly operated in the commercial pop country realm since her "American Idol" win — with the occasional dip into more traditional sounds as well as gospel-tinged numbers — she has always included a few vivid narratives on each album. On "Storyteller" she embraces even more, co-writing and choosing a clutch of tracks that chronicle tales of deadly romantic triangles, the perils of social climbing, cheatin' hearts and familial bliss, alongside more typical love songs. That she chooses to tell these stories in her usual fashion — quieter verses and anthemic choruses — doesn't obscure the growth on display.

No doubt some of the evolution results from Underwood expanding her collaborative base, chiefly to include producer Jay Joyce (Eric Church, Little Big Town). Joyce brings his atmospheric touch to the album's best six tracks, including the one-two punch of the ominous opener "Renegade Runaway," a nervy rocker with a Wild West motif, and the deliciously dark revenge song "Dirty Laundry," in which the narrator threatens to hang her unfaithful partner's shirt out to dry — with the wrong shade of lipstick on the collar — for everyone to see. Joyce was also behind the board for soaring first single "Smoke Break" and the album's most interesting left turn, the soul-sharpened "Choctaw County Affair." Underwood is all slink and sass recounting small-town scandal, and gets a boost from singer-songwriter Travis Meadows ("Riser") on harmonica and dynamite backing vocals from the McCrary Sisters.

Songwriter/producer Zach Crowell collaborates on the two smoothest songs in the pack: "Heartbeat," featuring Sam Hunt on backing vocals, and the willowy, melancholy "Relapse," in which our girl can't quit a man she knows is no good. Longtime collaborator Mark Bright rounds out the production team, helming among others "Church Bells," about a poor girl swept into high society and a loveless marriage by a man with a temper, who does not survive the song's running time.

SARAH RODMAN, Boston Globe

R&B/SOUL

Son Little, "Son Little" (Anti- )

Son Little's self-titled album

Before setting out on the 21st-century-soul path that he maps out so effectively here, this Philadelphia singer was known for his electro Icebird collaboration with RJD2 and his contributions to the Roots' 2011 album "Undun." Here, he can go in an old-school direction when he chooses — the doo-wop plea "Lay Down" would sound at home on Leon Bridges' more rigorously retro debut. But for the most part, he's after something less formal and familiar-sounding, mixing organic and electronic textures on songs that rock out with buzzing lead guitar or programmed beats. Little has a tendency to languish at midtempo, and it can be a relief when he picks up the pace, as he does on the holy rolling "The River." The soul label is really too restrictive for him. But, really, is there a better word to describe such searing pleas as "O Mother," which explores race and identity though such painful questions as "Why do they treat me like I'm not a man? I wonder, does anybody know just who I am?" Little will perform Tuesday at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis.

Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer