In these tough times, Thile's words, and the album as a whole, are more effective than the titular tonic at staving off inclement weather, at least of the emotional variety. A strong dose of Antifogmatic goes a long way.

Soaringly tuneful rock is back on this brilliant, cohesive CD.

In the end, Jewel Box is a lot to sift through, but ultimately it’s well worth the effort. Go through the couch cushions and save up some coin. Elton’s jewels provide a worthy cache indeed.

The setlist is expanded and the sound quality is more than adequate to ensure Young is spotlighted in fine form. Taken in tandem with his other live recordings, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 1971 ranks among the more essential offerings of Young’s current crop of releases.

Bobby Fuller Died For Your Sins is yet another example of not just his love of rock and roll, but an ability to create it with the spirit and intensity of the best of those that influenced him.

Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills fills in crucial missing pieces of the iconic record and makes a worthy addition to it for those looking to explore more of where the mojo that created it came from.

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 over in a compact 36 minutes but that’s plenty of time to realize this outfit is taking no prisoners in the quest to tear the roof off the sucker.

This is just one more related side trip in the band’s tenure and, as usual, they rip into it with typical vibrancy, rearranging Lowe’s material so creatively, these sound like Los Straitjackets originals.

The head-scratching concepts go down easy for music that feels like a comforting warm breeze on a cool spring day.

Lead track “Mile Marker 29” gets things off to a rousing start courtesy of the song’s riveting refrain. The tangled tapestry of “All Your Friends Are Dying” doesn’t offer the most promising premise, but it’s intriguing nevertheless. Still, when the band slows the tempo and recasts the proceedings with some mellower melodies, the album truly hints at greater glories.

None of this is sonically abrasive but it’s all challenging and a little goes a long way. At over 50 minutes, it’s a heavy lift that may confuse some but also intrigue others.

The contemplative sound of the album’s most beautiful ballads “Sure As the Rain,” “Ghost” and “Between Us There Is Music” are calming and captivating, even though the eerie ambiance and atmosphere may suggest otherwise.

It’s an understatement to say the album’s audacious tone and approach will take some getting used to for Americana fans. But those with open minds and an affinity for ’80s sounds should warm up to this unanticipated, intense but generally enticing music.

From the opening pensive, repetitive reverbed guitar washes of “Doris” where Bridges works wonders with his Marvin Gaye inflected falsetto, to the closing easy groove of “Mariella,” this is a near-perfect meeting of minds.

The lyrics are maybe a bit more intricate this time around, but they still rely on open-hearted platitudes about life lived hard and love without restraint, the eternal human struggle between the righteous path and inclinations to darkness, and, of course, well-timed “whoa-oh” shouts than can sometimes say it all.

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.

Production by longtime collaborator Thomas Bartlett and ex-Frames member David Odlum is inviting, alluring and engaging. It pushes Hansard into his finest performances yet on originals that are haunting, poignant and beautifully conceived.

You'd be mistaken to pass up the greatest album of Loudon Wainwright III's four-decade career, and an easy frontrunner for this year's best album, period, as 2012 enters its second half.

Each song revisits some real or imagined past that leaves the narrator empty-handed or disappointed, culminating in the impassioned mid-album plea for faith and renewal.

Apart from several live recordings of older classics, which feel unnecessary on an album that highlights Clark’s late-career work, this collection is a testament to the spectacular consistency of quality and depth in Clark’s songwriting genius even as he struggled through declining health in his final decade.

Even with all the experimentation, this remains a recognizable David Gray album with subdued melodies, unforced vocals, subtle acoustics and honest lyrics even in their more obtuse state.

Between Lane’s sexed up sassy testifying on cuts like the opening “Right Time” and “Sleep with a Stranger” along with in the pocket production that walks a nifty tightrope between ’60s countrypolitan and ’00s gutsy Americana, this is a combination we’d like to hear more from in the future.

Band of Brothers is Willie Nelson’s first album of largely self-penned tunes in almost two decades, but on his latest, Nelson mostly proves he’s still as sharp a vocalist as ever.

In the hands of a wannabe, the aforementioned songs might sound somewhat cloying, but given Young’s rugged vocals and apparent reservoir of conviction, the emotions ring true.

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.

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.

On his latest album, Millsap continuously plays with the tension between motion and stability, and the result is a rewarding, weighty LP that will surely serve as a trusty emotional roadmap for years to come.