Stepping out of her usual folk-country mode, Nanci Griffith goes uptown for elegant readings of smoldering pop ballads on Ruby’s Torch. In place of twanging acoustic instrumentation, the veteran singer/songwriter surrounds herself with gossamer string arrangements along with tasteful woodwinds and keyboards. If the surroundings are unfamiliar, Griffith seems comfortable applying her emotive vocal style to these fine-crafted meditations on love and longing. A trio of Tom Waits compositions —“Ruby’s Arms,” “Please Call Me, Baby” and “Grapefruit Moon” — receives a warm and sympathetic treatment. Griffith dips back into her own catalogue for the yearning “Brave Companion of the Road” and the confessional “Late Night Grande Hotel.” “Never Be the Sun,” a Donal MacDonagh Long composition, adds a mystically uplifting note to this largely downbeat collection. If there’s a true surprise on Ruby’s Torch, it’s the sensitive interpretation of the Frank Sinatra signature tune “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.”