Review: Carrie Underwood gets personal on ‘Storyteller’

Storyteller is Carrie Underwood’s first album in three years — and her first since becoming a mother. That life-changing event rises most overtly on the touching What I Never Knew I Always Wanted, a beautiful song that delves into the changes new parents undergo.

The maturing process of marriage and motherhood also influenced the yearning The Girl You Think I Am, about wanting to live up to her parents’ expectations, and the ballad Like I’ll Never Love You Again, one of her most passionate love songs to date.

For the first time since her debut album 10 years ago, Underwood teams with more than one producer. Long-time collaborator Mark Bright works on five of the 13 songs, including the murderous revenge tale Church Bells. Hot Nashville producer Jay Joyce helms six songs, including the hit single Smoke Break and the swampy, southern gothic Choctaw County Affair, which pushes Underwood into a soulful new sound.