QUITE A YEAR FOR PLUMS

Listeners unfamiliar with Bailey White's commentaries on National Public Radio may be surprised by her gravelly voice, which sounds twice as old as the woman pictured on the jacket. Her beguiling delivery adds a note of authentic oral history to these finely crafted, interrelated stories minutely detailed with the sights, sounds and small passions of rural Southern life. Though her narrow range of vocal inflection and steady rhythm are just right for her shorter radio pieces, they initially make it difficult to differentiate the characters. More than once this listener found himself in a new chapter, not realizing the previous had ended. However, this is but a small distraction from a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience by a master storyteller. G.B.C. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 99]