STORYTELLER

Carrie Underwood (Arista Nashville)

Storyteller is Carrie Underwood’s first album in three years — and her first since becoming a mother. That life-changing event rises most overtly on the touching “What I Never Knew I Always Wanted,” a beautiful song that delves into the life-altering changes new parents undergo.

The maturing process of marriage and motherhood also influenced the yearning “The Girl You Think I Am,” about wanting to live up to her parents’ expectations, and the ballad “Like I’ll Never Love You Again,” one of her most passionate love songs to date.

For the first time since her debut album 10 years ago, Underwood teams with more than one producer. Longtime collaborator Mark Bright works on five of the 13 songs, including the murderous revenge tale “Church Bells.” Hot Nashville producer Jay Joyce helms six songs, including the hit single “Smoke Break” and the swampy, southern gothic “Choctaw County Affair,” which pushes Underwood into a soulful new sound.

Much of the rest of Storyteller sticks with Underwood’s penchant for dramatic tales with big choruses, including two cuts produced by young, pop-country producer Zach Crowell. The result is an album that balances Underwood’s proven strengths with songs that show artistic growth by drawing more on the singer’s personal life.

— MICHAEL McCALL,Associated Press

ANOTHER COUNTRY

Rod Stewart (Capitol Records)

Rod Stewart’s Another Country is stage two of his return to songwriting after a decade of Great American Songbook albums and the follow-up to 2013’s successful Time.

Don’t be turned off by the uninspiring cover — there’s plenty of passion inside, like the pair of songs inspired by the lives and fates of soldiers, the title track and “Way Back Home.” The latter features a Winston Churchill voiceover about never surrendering, just like Supertramp’s “Fool’s Overture” from 1977.

There’s room for joyous Gaelic sounds despite some by-the-numbers melodies, featherweight reggae with “Love and Be Loved” and an enthusiastic, biting “Please,” the kind of steady rocker Joe Cocker thrived on and, oh, right, so did Stewart back in the day.

On a lullaby dedicated to the youngest of his eight children, “Batman Superman Spiderman,” Stewart contrasts today’s superheroes with the “castles, kings and knights” of his own childhood stories, while the laid-back “Can We Stay Home Tonight?” sounds like an increasingly attractive proposal as time goes by.

On “The Drinking Song” Stewart shows no remorse for years (decades?) of the high life, because, after all, he can always blame the beverage.

Two nonoriginals close the album, of which “A Friend for Life” — a tender track by Steve Harley and Jim Cregan — provides ample proof of Stewart’s interpretative skills.

The deluxe edition is worth the extra investment, especially for the groovy, Stax-like “One Night With You” and the original, late ’60s version of “In A Broken Dream,” a song Stewart first sang with Australian band Python Lee Jackson and which was sampled recently by rapper A$AP Rocky.

— PABLO GORONDI,Associated Press

DODGE AND BURN

The Dead Weather (Third Man Records)

It’s easy to identify ’70s antecedents with the Dead Weather, and we’re not talking about the Grateful Dead or Weather Report. Dodge and Burn is full of Led Zeppelin guitar work by Dean Fertita, but the riff references also range from Television (“Buzzkill(er)”) to ELP ("Lose the Right").

And on its third album, the supergroup reaches back even farther for inspiration. Alison Mosshart’s vocals marinate in more reverb than early Elvis, and Jack White’s murder tale “Three Dollar Hat” sounds like an 80-year-old track from Harry Smith’s folk anthology, minus the gramophone crackle.

In this case, retro rocks. White produced, and his typically sparse arrangements give each note that much more punch, while his drumming provides plenty of propulsion.

Mosshart sings about negative feedback, grinding her teeth and going back to bed. She dials down her delivery with lovely singing on the closing ballad “Impossible Winner,” a testament to staying power.

It’s potential sports arena fodder, an odd prospect for a band that does best when it has the blues.

— STEVEN WINE, Associated Press

First Published October 29, 2015, 11:53 a.m.