Just as one individual looks to another for identity & support, so one song looks to the last for meaning; a place in the grand structure. This does what many before have done. She is a folk musician in the singer-songwriter tradition. She pays homage here, stretches boundaries there, & most often plays w/in the structures formed by the greats that preceded her. Very few have what it takes to make it on a stage where what separates the weak from the strong is neither record sales nor charisma, but the greatness of the songs. Language of Stone. 2008.