Some days this job just makes you shake your head. As in, what is the world coming to when as unmistakable a talent as Deena Goodman is self-publishing EPs instead of having her face plastered across a billboard high above Sunset Boulevard?

Maybe it's the whole Britney influence. After all, Goodman looks less like the oversexed, underdressed skanks that "moral values"-minded Middle America continues to worship than the quietly intelligent young lady you might expect to find running the counter at Kinko's until she moves on to bigger things.

Don't be fooled by the shy-girl-in-the-corner album cover, though. Deena Goodman is without a doubt the best female blues singer I've heard since I picked up my first Susan Tedeschi disc. She's a singer-songwriter who has chosen a genre and not just gotten comfortable in it, but made it her own. And while Hard To Get To only offers five songs, it already rates as one of the most enjoyable listens to show up in my mailbox this year.

The arrangements feature easy-glide blues guitar over organ and electric piano in support of Goodman's rangy, consistently appealing vocals. Opener "Hard To Get To" is a good example of how she folds and twists the basic blues framework to fit her intentions, featuring a very contemporary, self-aware lyric while layering a lilting blues-rock melody over a chorus that begs the listener for a sing-along.

The second cut, "Sometimes," is the one that really blew me away, though. How many Britney lookalikes could write a song with the steely self-awareness of a Bonnie Raitt confessional and the clever wordplay of a Top Ten country single, and then sing it with the straight-from-the-gut passion of a young Tina Turner? No, really, it's that impressive.

The other three songs here -- "Walking All Over," "Too Damaged To Care" and "Your Rock" (the latter co-written by Spin Doctors vocalist Chris Barron) -- all shine in their own ways as they move through a series of steady, appealing grooves. All five cuts are co-written by Goodman and producer Mike Shimshack, and feature right-on-the-money instrumental support from a crack studio team that includes Andy Hess (Gov't Mule), Nir Z (John Mayer), Billy Stein (Boy George) and Duke Levine (Mary Chapin Carpenter). Stein's fluid organ work and Levine's nimble, expressive guitar rate special notice.

What brought this all-star team together is obvious -- they know talent when they hear it. Deena Goodman is a major find who's just waiting for the world to wake up to her. Consider this your alarm clock buzzing.

Rating: A-

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