Maree McRae

“Urgency,” this album’s title track, was inspired by the chronic illness of Maree McRae’s youngest son, so it makes sense that her performance is sincere and heartfelt. But her delivery of lines like “Baby, I’m just burstin’ at the seams” doesn’t match their content. Her relaxed, honeyed vocals are best suited to the lovely yet laconic “Move On” and “Breeze,” which equates love with a leaf wafted by the wind, and if her occasional attempts to rock a little, as on “It’s a Shame,” can be modestly effective, they’ll never serve as the soundtrack for a bar-room brawl. Wyatt Easterling’s production is warm and professional, as is the accompaniment offered by a slew of Nashville session types — but the results seldom transcend the merely pleasant. Urgent, they’re not.