Good Luck Charm

For their second album, the married duo of Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore cowrote the songs together and took their Texas-born souls to Southern California to work with producer Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Wilco), where they let the sunshine in. As experienced touring and recording musicians, they apply the lessons learned and waste no time. The title track showcases their strengths for melody and instrumentation, while “Closer to You” gives Whitmore a perfect setting for her striking voice. The consistent, hustling pace suggests their years currently spent in Brooklyn, N.Y., have affected them more than they might realize. “Uniform” slows briefly, but the splendor of “It’s Not Like Me” and the Chris Masterson–led “Everywhere but Here” serve as a mid-album knockout. Producer Scott, however, finds room for the important licks, and the organ often finds itself leading as much as settling in the background. Besides, the album’s “second” side allows for the violin-sweetened “I Found You” and the gently expanding “Time Is Tender.”

The second album from husband-and-wife alt-country duo the Mastersons unwittingly makes a good case for the institution of marriage -- if you harmonize as well with someone as Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore do on 2014's Good Luck Charm, it's hard not to imagine that you were meant to be together, and if not every song on this set is a joyous proclamation of love, their performances are as much about great personal chemistry as two voices that blend well.