One Day is easy listening at its finest, instilled with the fresh finesse and supple sensitivity that only a genetic bond can bring.

Collectively, they reflect the life’s work of a tight, hardworking/hard traveling act that plays by its own rules. And, judging from the almost three and a half hours of music here, one that continues to improve with age.

Regions Of Light is about surrendering yourself to the wonder of the unknown: Often on this adventurous and deeply heartfelt album, it’s unclear whether James is singing to a lover or to God, and that seems to be the point.

Whatever its brew, at its core, Danse Macabre is Duran Duran, 40-plus years later, sounding their best.

There is a vibrant exuberance to these performances that, like its old-school audio, feels alive and fresh making the Mavericks one of the few bands better in their second act than in their first.

This album is just more evidence that few have ever been as fluent in that tongue as Paul Simon.

The Odessa Tapes shows this was from the start a talented band, one with a clear vision of itself, that was going to Nashville with pride in its performing abilities and material.

So far, Jepsen has us in the palm of her hand. Every song, every beat, every intonation has been sublimely chosen.

With Brill Bruisers providing another example of their amazing chemistry, it seems more and more likely history will show that this group was meant to be their day job all along.

Every line seems to come straight from the mouth of that guy right over there, you know, the buddy of your buddy-the one you always wanted to ride around with while he told his stories but never got the chance to. Well, here it is. Are you game?

A welcome if particularly edgy comeback that positions the album as Cook’s finest, most riveting and intensely personal work.

As always, Crowell is in prime form, and the ten songs that make up the set list hold to the high standard he’s known for.

The songs never sink to the downbeat morass of its socio-economic subject matter. On the contrary his voice, somewhat like John Lennon's, is boyishly refreshing even when the music is as stark.

Any of these gems would sound natural emerging out of a tinny ‘60s transistor radio. That’s clearly what Waterhouse and Butler were aiming for on an organic album that feels fresh and alive while respecting and recalling the past.

As sole songwriter, singer and co-producer, Whitely is astonishingly mature for her first album, but assistance from keyboardist Thomas Bartlett whose piano is featured on many of the soaring ballads that dominate the set brings depth and intensity.

It’s time to start thinking of Vampire Weekend not as upstarts but as one of the world’s best bands, because they’ve delivered a trio of great albums in an era when diminished expectations leave most listeners grateful for one.

All That Echoes is not only Groban’s most accessible and unified work to date, but it also stands out as the seminal musical moment of his 12-year career.

Ultimately, there’s not a single song here that fails to resonate or emphatically evoke emotions.

It is a monumental album in everything from the scope of its subject matter to its grand instrumentation and production.

By any standards, this is an expansive, terrific and lovingly curated set that displays the impressive life’s work of a classy, talented, journeyman rocker yet to find the commercial or critical acclaim he deserves.

It’s another pretty great Ron Sexsmith album.

Some selections could have been edited to make this a shorter, stronger collection, especially since the smooth, unruffled mid-tempo groove gets a little stale by the album’s final third. But it’s a pleasure to have Penn back on the music scene he is so inextricably tied to, writing and cutting fresh tracks with the same attention to detail and overall mojo he applied to the timeless gems that made him such an iconic name in American soul music.

The album in a nutshell: a broken heart carried with poise, good humor and endless charm.

Hesitant Alien features some of Way’s best material yet.

The melodies take flight, soaring as guitars strum, and drums pound, and Nash unleashes ten widescreen tales resounding with melancholy intensity and an idiosyncratic style best described as uncompromising.

What Sometimes I Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit reflects is that Courtney Barnett is a burgeoning talent whose future likely holds great improvement from this already-impressive starting point.

It is tough to immediately decide where this record fits into Oldham’s dense, diverse and frankly daunting discography, but it’s reaffirming to see him still swinging for the fences.

Ultimately, Leftover Feelings doesn’t take either artist beyond their respective comfort zones. Yet, it is an outstanding album nevertheless, simply because it’s everything one would expect from a collaboration between the two. Above all, it succeeds in eliciting emotion, which is, by definition, the standard upon which most memorable music is judged. Given that measure, Leftover Feelings is both revealing and resilient indeed.

For those who, like Thomson, also yearn for the charmingly constructed sounds of classic singles which remain timeless slices of memorable music, and others wanting a taste of those songs in a contemporary setting, Heartbreaker Please finds Teddy Thompson nailing that elusive style with deceptive, impressive ease.

While eight have appeared in different versions spooned out on releases ranging from 1976’s American Stars And Bars, Rust Never Sleeps from 1979 (three tracks), Decade (the Nixon diatribe “Campaigner”) and one even as late as 2010’s Le Noise, there is an intimacy and rawness to these performances that is riveting and subtly powerful.

Another classy, sublime entry in the group’s expansive resume, one that has remarkably few missteps.

Cut half the roster on Chimes and you've got an amazing lineup of Dylan's peers and admirers.

Louris is nothing if not a master of melody and nuance, and his articulate arrangements make this album an utterly engaging experience from start to finish. The music is melodic and unfettered, and that’s cause enough to consider the fact that Jump for Joy actually lives up to its title.

Syd Arthur give themselves room to stretch out on Sound Mirror, with sonic textures thick and varied enough to enjoy getting lost in on repeat listens.

Long Player, Late Bloomer is a record certainly worthy of being played for a long, long time to come.

World On The Ground is many things at once: Emotionally vast, welcomingly homey, highly individualized in its memories, broadly appealing through its attentive storytelling, symbolically hyperbolic, and unintentionally self-aware in its realism. Through many layers of experimentation with lyrical intimacy, Sarah Jarosz has invigorated a songwriting path previously less tended to over her compositional history.

Like R.E.M., this package is classy and creatively designed. It illuminates a challenging yet fulfilling turning point in the group’s impressive and influential legacy.

He's no less daring than before. Marked by a series of ominous atmospheric soundscapes, the album finds Cale seemingly beckoning whatever spirits surround him with a dire yet distinctive vocal that casts a spell on the effort overall.

Occasionally the sound can get a bit monochromatic. But co-producer/multi-instrumentalist Jacob Hanson keeps Bonar’s voice--similar to that of Britta Phillips--up front. And these songs are so powerfully melodic, it’s difficult not to get swept into the world of an artist who is more than ready for her time in the spotlight.

The songs are brash, boisterous and flush with an energy level that aptly reflects a seemingly preternatural zeal and enthusiasm.

An epic effort in its entirety, The Complete Dirty South now offers an excellent opportunity to revisit this decidedly descriptive album. It continues to loom large in the band’s legacy, encapsulating the Southern culture in ways only true sons of the South were capable of conceiving.

While it may be a brief career diversion instead of a new direction, Butch Walker adds to his long list of accomplishments with an album that’s as impressive in its laid back way as any of the tougher, edgier, more aggressive entries that dominate his catalog.

With his latest, Jonny Fritz cements his standing as a first-rate satirist whose off-kilter sensibility expands and challenges the very boundaries of what constitutes fair game in pop songwriting.

Remind Me Tomorrow actually does take a less-is-more tack in terms of its lyrics. Yet this album manages to be striking even when the words are minimized or backgrounded. Van Etten may be transforming, but she’s still triumphing.

The Nashville by way of Texas singer-songwriter ups his game for this self-assured sweetly melodic sophomore release.

The album, sees the pop maven realize her own strength and let it take her somewhere new while keeping with her characteristic candor and energy.

This is an auspicious solo debut. Auerbach backs her with studio pros who have played on dozens of classic albums from Aretha to Neil Diamond, but she rises to the occasion with her commanding presence, terrific songs and powerhouse voice.

Crockett is not aiming for edgy but neither is he slick, overly smooth or worse, commercially motivated. Even when the songs describe the titular hard times, his affable approach makes them go down easy and, like the best performers, leaves you wanting more.

Rather than an uninspiring photo copy of the previous collaborations, the fourth go-round of this feisty association shows that it’s getting better and tougher, whetting our appetite for the next iteration.

The sparse production rightly focuses on the vocals with a backing band that's in the pocket yet appropriately reserved.

With the buzz silenced and the rag headlines but a thing of the past, it’s encouraging to see that The Libertines have lost none of what made them worth the hype in the first place.

He comes across as a man still deep in the throes of religious and romantic upheaval, invigorated rather than intimidated by the nearness of death.

Benson writes about life’s ups and downs. But musically this short (just over 30 minutes) yet taut collection delivers all the power pop goods you’ll need.

St. Vincent is an overwhelming listen the first, second, maybe even third time around.

Simpson lets his band, and his songs, do the talking on Metamodern Sounds, which is surely one of the very best straight up country records of 2014.

An album that succeeds on all fronts, both as an artistic endeavor and as an expression of conscience and clarity. With Georgia Blue, Isbell and company have made an album for the ages.

It’s still early in 2019, but with the striking, often churchy Painted Image, the half-Dominican/half-Italian southerner Liz Brasher sketches a claim as a breakout Americana soul-singer with crossover potential.

With T Bone Burnett's production and Burnett's usual cast of top-notch players (including Sara Watkins on fiddle and vocals), Earle's got another winner. Grammy or not.

Bahamas Is Afie is a triumph in soulful, roots music, and instead of just trying to sound old-timey, the record is full of personality.

The music’s not raw enough to be considered outlaw but it’s melodic, sharply arranged and driven by passion. That balance makes the Turnpike Troubadours both one of Americana’s preeminent purveyors and this album arguably their most accomplished set to date.

While continuing to deliver the intimate songs of hopeless love and regret for his longtime fans, he stills finds ways to surprise as he works with his magician-like collaborator.

Each track lists a dozen or more players. And while that creates complex, occasionally ornate instrumentation, the songs never feel cluttered or overly busy. Rather Weller carefully crafts this music, shifting moods and using the players to enhance songs that are as well, soulful and heavy, as anything he has created.

It’s an album that both looks backward and forward, reprising the dusky feel of the music that first inspired the Dickinson brothers to start their band while pushing it into electric boogie and even psychedelic directions its founders might not have imagined.

It is 1989 reimagined, with often startling results.

Even at their most carefree and explorative, these tracks are tight, well crafted, and time conscious.

If artistry is the product of passion, then Wainwright has demonstrated yet again that she’s capable of channeling it better than most.

Ronnie Dunn is an admirable solo effort and is as rock-solid as any Brooks & Dunn album, which should appease old and new fans alike.

If the first 45 minutes don’t convince you this is the best garage rock album in years, then the closing 13-minute epic “Ghost Cave Lament,” one of two new tunes, will seal the deal.

Good stuff all around from a band that makes it look easy by keeping true to what got it here in the first place.

There’s still so much going on that Little Dark Age is a lot to take in, but it’s worth going back for seconds.

Headphones make the experience even more visceral since listeners can concentrate on the intricacy of the tracks. But in any environment, Flat White Moon is an inventive, original and impressive project from a band who hasn’t yet found a boundary they can’t expand.

Semper Femina is a concise, dynamic statement from the English singer-songwriter, mixing breezy 70’s country-rock melodies with claustrophobic, fingerpicking folk, often on the same song.

As often as White Hot Moon feels like a diary entry recitation, its real catharsis is in the sheer acts of volume that back up Drake and Greaves’ lyrics.

At 11 tracks that clock in just over half an hour, it’s done too quickly. But we spend just enough time in La Luz’s nocturnal surf world to push repeat and return again, an action the best albums always provoke.

Even if Joe Jackson is no longer the mega-star of the ‘80s, it’s clear from the consistently innovative, often challenging Fool that he is far from a faded has-been. On the contrary, it’s good enough to suggest his best might still be ahead of him.

There are plenty of bands trying to capture this distressing atmosphere of dread, uncertainty and slowly enveloping darkness, but few do it with the class, subtlety and controlled intensity of All Them Witches. Five albums in, they are confident in their abilities and seem poised for a remarkable future.

This a powerful, uncompromising release and one that doubles down on her established style while pulling no punches.

With Way Down in the Rust Bucket, Young affirms a vision and vitality that showcases him at his best, the lesser contenders be damned.

These songs are refreshing, loud, fun and thoughtful.

Consider Shadow Kingdom another opportunity to seize on a fabled legacy while reminding the world yet again that certain songs never go out of style.

Seven albums on, Isbell’s achieved a rarified status, one that indulges a need for creativity as well as contemplation. Reunions reminds us that it’s the rare artist that succeeds at both.

It shows that a talented, visionary singer-songwriter can comfortably do what she does so well, yet not be trapped by conventionality.

Some, like musician Dean Evenson, believe that nature itself has a tone, a vibration. It’s low, hushed, almost imperceptible. But Barnett’s new LP seems to bring those sensibilities to the light, to the cultural forefront. Whether Barnett has studied the theory that Evenson espouses or not, the truth is that it’s in her work here. Clear as day.

Hopefully the Prine connection will provide the necessary visibility to move Waldon to the next level. With the impressive White Noise/White Lines, she proves her talent is worthy of his, and our, admiration.

The album is at its best when it sticks to the timeless stuff about love and loss.

If Things Change has any fault, it’s that the North Carolina singer-songwriter doesn’t cover too much new ground. But for the most part, it’s an engaging latest chapter in the ever-evolving, consistently compelling storytelling saga of one of this generation’s most overlooked roots country singer-songwriters.

Generally more subdued than the Lambert-led Pistol Annies and less groundbreaking than Trio (the iconic Emmylou, Dolly, Linda Ronstadt project that was a clear influence here), some of this doesn’t qualify as country. It would have helped if all four women participated in every performance since at least one is MIA on the majority of tunes. And while Dave Cobb’s production is typically professional, it’s also a little dry. Regardless, this is a much needed shot in the arm from talented female singer-songwriters.

Outside Society is necessarily uneven, but it's persuasive nevertheless, if only because it tells a clear story of an artist who fought to define and redefine herself constantly.

There’s plenty of soul, sass and self-reflection as Hames works through these short, snappy tunes, where it’s impossible not to hear echoes of the Dusty Springfield and Bobbie Gentry influences that Hames mentions in the press notes.

Competent though they are, the band’s experiments stretch cohesion to its limits, and Spreading Rumours consequently feels like a collection of singles rather than an album-length statement.

Now in her early 70s, Wilson’s distinctive, powerful pipes haven’t lost any of their soulful command on this eleven-track program mixing intriguing covers with Wilson co-penned originals.

Crowell’s brutally honest musings on his life and loves is a case-study that makes the reflective Close Ties a poignant and emotionally affecting portrait of one of American music’s most captivating, talented and honest artists.

This is tough, unvarnished music played for keeps, not for the squeamish or those afraid of the sight, or sounds, of blood.

Few artists have the financial means or artistic vision to pull off a thunderous production like this which is impressive in its scope and sheer booming audio audacity. Van Zandt doesn’t have the best voice (his attempt to croon a ballad on “Suddenly You” is almost comedic), but he generally puts across the material in a sort of sub-Southside Johnny howl.

Steve Dawson’s fleet fingers, dexterity and sheer musicality make this a must for acoustic guitar aficionados and a treat for everyone else.

The thoroughly engaging Scandalous certainly satisfying one's hunger for some stick-to-your-ribs rock 'n' soul music. The band, however, seems approaching a crossroads. They definitely demonstrate their skills at successfully reviving these retro sounds but they are still striving to find their own special voice.

No one breaks much of a sweat here. White’s distinctive mumble seems like it was recorded while drifting in and out of a narcotic-induced coma. Nevertheless, this music resonates with the dark, ominous, rootsy authenticity Tony Joe White has always exuded.

While his vocal style is not for everyone, Matsson is an imaginative songwriter whose songs deserve your attention.