After nearly five decades in Heart—the band she shares with her vocalist sister Ann—guitarist Nancy Wilson has pulled off a neat trick: a debut solo studio album that doesn't sound like Heart covers or castoffs. True, she doesn't have Ann's gale-force voice, but it's not needed on candlelight-warm, lovely songs like the title track "You and Me," which lets Nancy's charmingly sibilant "S" pronunciation shine, and the romantic "I'll Find You" (which, if anything, sounds more like a Sheryl Crow song than one from the Heart catalog). But there's no mistaking Nancy's molten guitar on a tenderhearted cover of Bruce Springsteen's 9/11 firefighter tribute "The Rising" or the paisley underground-esque "The Inbetween." The song that comes closest to a Heart number is the ballad "Walk Away"—sultry with high-drama strings—which bears a slight resemblance to "These Dreams," one of the only hits with lead vocals by Nancy herself. The one time you might wish Ann was along for the ride is on the shoulder-shaking, Meatloaf-esque "Party at the Angel Ballroom" ("it's a party in heaven so we can party like hell"). Backed up by Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan and rock-solid Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, Nancy sounds a bit overwhelmed. But she is right in range on a cover of the Cranberries' foolproof "Dreams" and offers a spitfire take on "Daughter" by fellow Seattle musicians Pearl Jam. A cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer" (with Sammy Hagar, not that you can necessarily find him in the mix; is that him hollering "lie-la-lie"?) is faithful but given a more jangling drum beat and almost zydeco feel. Original "The Dragon" finds Nancy cutting loose, both on the guitar and vocals; a tribute to Alice in Chains' singer Layne Staley, who died of an overdose in 2002 after a prolonged decline, the song slinks and stomps as Nancy warns: "Don't you go down, where the dragon waits." It all wraps up with an absolutely beautiful and bluesy-soulful acoustic cut, "4 Edward." Written for Eddie Van Halen, the legendary rock ’n’ roll guitarist who passed away after a stroke in 2020, it forgoes lyrics in favor of Nancy's deft plucking and strumming: her true legacy. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz