ALBUM REVIEWS / POP

** 1/2 Pam Tillis, “Every Time,” Arista. It’s by and large country-pop business as usual here, but Tillis perks up from time to time, notably with the country soul of the Tommy Lee James-Jennifer Kimball title tune and the loping Tulsa rockabilly of Jamie O’Hara’s “Lay the Heartache Down.” She stretches her sultry vocal cords more than listeners’ hearts or minds.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).