Looking out from the cover of Tell Me, 21-year-old Ohioan Jessica Lea Mayfield appears to be a charming young woman but as the lyrics of beautiful mid-album gem ’Trouble’ reveal: “Shoulda listened to my friend / and the words that he told you / that girl is trouble / she’s a player, and she’ll play you….”

That’s just one example of the lyrical brilliance to be found all over this record, as Mayfield coos and drawls her way through eleven songs of love and sex, taking us through darkness into light and back again and showing a maturity way above her 21 years on this good earth.

She was the first guest voice ever to be heard on a Black Keys record – at the age of 17 – and that band’s Dan Auerbach appears throughout this record as producer and player, however his role is very much in the background as Mayfield’s confident songs are allowed space to beguile the listener. While 2008′s With Blasphemy So Heartfelt might have been ostensibly country in its approach, Tell Me has a broader sound taking in pop, a touch of shoegaze, girl-group shimmy, blues and back, of course, to country.

Opener ‘I’ll Be The One You Want Someday’ is a tense beginning, with squalls of guitar accompanying Mayfield’s tale of trying not to let her heart rule her head, singing “My brain is speeding faster than my mouth can move / All I can think are the things I should not do”. It’s quite a start, and it’s not easy listening. ‘Our Hearts Are Wrong’ is certainly lighter in terms of musical mood, programmed drums and sprightly guitars skip along nicely, but again there’s a tale of danger and woe at work: “Pain has brought me up / the stairs into your house / I will not let hate / be the one to make me naked for you.” It’s powerful stuff, and it’s brilliant. Mayfield’s in love, and she needs this man to see it.

She’s not averse to lightening the tone from time to time though, and ‘Blue Skies Again’ is sheer pop brilliance, bouncing along to the chorus “Suddenly I can see / Blue Skies Again / beauty says nothing less / and our hearts will mend”. There’s also some ooh-la-la-la’s courtesy of Auerbach, probably the chirpiest we’re ever likely to hear the Black Keys man. ‘Grown Man’ is another upbeat track, a song that sounds like it was composed to the “calypso” setting on an old keyboard. It brings a smile to the face, with salacious lyrics telling of a relationship between an older man and young woman: “I’d give most anything to know / as you’re sitting there with your legs crossed / and no clothes on / just exactly what you’re thinking” and then “Give me your hand, grown man / I’ll breath some life into you / there’s not much I wouldn’t let / you whisper in my ear.”

Goodness, there are so many examples of the quality of Mayfield’s lyrics that I could have filled this review with them. She delivers both the serious and the comedic with such sincerity you can’t help but feel she’s lived every moment of every song, which is how I also feel when I listen to Laura Marling, who’s probably the closest British contemporary that Mayfield has. To have the lyrics “I broke the little cabana boy’s heart / to let you fondle / me in the dark” in a desperately sad song like ‘Sometimes At Night’ takes real courage, and real ability, and this young woman has both in spades.

As this terrific record draws to a close with ‘Sleepless’, Jessica Lea Mayfield reveals that “My momma said that / no-one can stop me…I won’t let you stand in my way.” Damn right, girl. Just goes to show that you should always listen to your mother.