Julie Roberts, Miranda Lambert

With a sound as plain as her name, Julie Roberts isn't a particularly flashy female country singer, especially compared with veteran showstoppers such as Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks or an outspoken newcomer like Gretchen Wilson. But on last year's self-titled debut, the 26-year-old South Carolina native doles out her modest pleasures so assuredly you hardly notice how deeply the album's crept into your mind until it's already there. (Marvel at the understated heartbreak of "Unlove Me.") Texas-born Miranda Lambert, an alum of Nashville Star (the C&W American Idol), is a bit more fiery on Kerosene, her debut.