Record Rack

*** / Kelly Willis, “What I Deserve,” Rykodisc. After a five-year hiatus from full-length albums, the Austin resident reaffirms her status as one of alt-country’s best and most versatile singers. Working with spare, clean arrangements that are as inviting and comfortable as your grandmother’s old couch, Willis uses her shimmering voice to wrest every last drop of aching melancholy from material by writers as disparate as Paul Westerberg, Paul Kelly and Nick Drake. Willis plays Jacks Sugar Shack next Saturday.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.