Shania Twain's 'Little Miss Twain': A Rootsy Revival That Strays from the Dirt Track to the Middle of the Road

Canadian country legend Shania Twain premiered her seventh album 'Little Miss Twain' to 200 fans in a London pub in June, marking a reintroduction to her roots. The title track, with wistful Mellotron and pedal steel, marvels at little Eilleen (her birth name) escaping the rural north to make it in Nashville, yet it all feels inevitable—as if her career was conjured by her mother's conviction, who drove her to tiny bars in a beat-up Chevy.

But it was far from inevitable. Twain's early decades were shaped by poverty, violence, and the shocking death of her parents, leaving her to raise three younger siblings. 'Northern Town,' a noirish track with upright bass and classical guitar flourishes, offers a veiled insight into those years, thick with cigarette smoke and irony about being broke in gold rush territory.

Unfortunately, most of 'Little Miss Twain' is vague on details. Songs like 'Quit My Life' (an upbeat number about taking the day off) could be from young Twain's perspective burdened by responsibility, but little suggests it. Instead, the album pivots to her comfort zone: zany humor and unadventurous but catchy melodies within the pop-rock-country Venn diagram she owned in the 90s.

Much feels too safe, from the soul-lite 'Take It to the River' featuring Ronnie Wood and The War and Treaty, to fluffy overproduced tracks about young love. The best, 'New Love,' has a cantering beat and blushing strings, but its themes are rehashed on the hokey 'Down the Middle' and forgettable 'Scary Little Thing.'

Thankfully, recent single 'Dirty Rosie' is hoedown pop with real personality, doing doughnuts around truck-obsessed country bro stereotypes. In contrast, 'I'd Be Loving Me' sounds vocally strained but brings needed gravity and ache. This deceptively simple ballad wonders how Twain would apologize if she were the cheating partner, and whether that apology would be accepted.

On the title track, Twain sings of two dreams: she wanted to ride horses, while her mother wanted her to become 'the next Tanya Tucker.' Tucker duets on those very lines. 'Little Miss Twain' may not be a return to peak powers, but amid country's fresh crest in popularity, it's a sharply timed reminder of Twain's rich legacy and influence.