What do you get when you blend the power of Melissa Etheridge's voice with the beauty of k.d. lang's? Two words: Diane Ward. This singer/songwriter powerhouse has been long under-recognized for her soulful voice and strike-to-the-heart lyrics.

On her fourth release, Wonderlight, Ward stirs up a potluck of rock, blues, and folk with an all-star production team including John Merchant (Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion) and mastering guru Bob Ludwig (Sheryl Crow, Shawn Colvin). Ward holds back nothing on this disc: the initial intoxication of love, the heavy loss that inevitably ensues, and the surprising hope to love again. It's all here in 11 tracks.

Diane explained her motivation for the album: "There is the sense that society has not completely drained us of our innocence... not completely numbed us to those things that get us up in the morning and bring meaning to our lives." She succeeds amazingly in delivering an exciting, uptempo album that doesn't shy away from those ballads that make us all a little bit nostalgic for the lessons we've learned, as well as to acknowledge the lessons we're still learning.

Highlights on Wonderlight include "This Love is Hard" ("And there's no avoiding feeling the crush when you're laid out under the wheel.") and "Passion Field" ("The bar's all sticky and damp with hearts hanging on the edge of a worn out jukebox."). It's the final track that wowed me though, "Tongue Tied", a touching ballad about the close of a relationship ("And I'm tongue tied, tired of you wasting this bad, bad wine. Well don't bother to raise your glass one more time.").

There's a lot of music out there that's pleasant enough but remains skin deep. Pick up a copy of Wonderlight and give yourself a musical exfoliation.

Visit the official Diane Ward website: dianeward.com