American Love Song expertly and movingly shows how the overarching U.S.A. theme can encompass triumph and tragedy from one moment to the next.

Yola can hold her own with the best, and it’s likely this terrific album will end up as one of the most impressive debuts of this or recent years. Its combustive combination of talent, songwriting and sympathetic yet bold production makes Yola’s release one of the finest soul/country fusions in recent memory.

No one makes music quite like this pair. If Frank Zappa took drugs, this might be the result. The more you listen, the more you hear and if ever there was an album perfect for listening with headphones and the lights out, this is it.

Some songs suffer from being underwritten and overplayed. Still, there are enough impressive moments to ensure that, at least on stage, they will detonate with the passion and soul the Tedeschi Trucks band generates at every show.

As unabashedly pop albums go, Ellis’ self-descriptive Texas Piano Man is a bracing alternative to the guitar-focused music that dominates the singer-songwriter field.

For anyone expecting a stark left-turn from the songwriter, What It Is will be a let-down. But the record’s greatest strength is also what makes it predictable: as Carll settles into the warm consistency and careful craft of middle-career, he’s less interested in proving who he is than in refining what he does best.

An album that’s not just an impressive follow-up to a career that fans thought was long over, but a splendid entry into the contemporary Americana field, one that The Long Ryders had an underappreciated hand in crafting.

Not surprisingly, these songs float rather than soar as hints of organ, piano, and synthesizer augment the sparse sound without jarring the listener, lulled into Pratt’s ever so elusive world.

The production, arrangements and overall audio are beautifully crafted, McCombs’ askew concepts are, well... intriguing, and this hour long album is another impressive notch in the belt of a talented artist whose unusual, often offbeat approach is what makes him so distinctive, entrancing and appealing.

It remains an electric, inspired show thanks to an exceedingly talented band led by guitarist Rick Holmstrom, and of course Staples’ larger than life voice, vitality and sheer personality. Pushing 80, she seems unstoppable.

Rev’s somewhat radical interpretation will alert Americana fans to Gentry’s unfairly neglected gem, now ready for a belated rediscovery.

A similarity to the material and an overall honeyed style dominate on initial listen, but the pieces become more distinctive after a few spins.

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.

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.

Credit goes to multi-instrumentalist/producer James Elkington who balances a near perfect blend of acoustic and subtle electric instrumentation, ghostly supporting vocals and strings along with Gunn’s own singing and exquisite guitar. He molds this hypnotic mélange that finds its footing early and tugs you deeper into the vortex of sound through the next 45 minutes, crafting a swirling, effortlessly artsy album with an almost surreal atmosphere you won’t soon forget.

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.

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.

A handful of rocked-up covers such as “Auld Lang Syne” and “Angels We Have Heard on High” corral these standards into the Old 97s’ careening, energized mindset, and even the cloying “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” gets a cool surfy makeover thanks to Bethea’s spaghetti western guitar solo.

The album is finished a scant 32 heart-pulsating minutes after it started, but nothing is rushed. Rather, the Lovell sisters have opened the door to a dark, bluesy, portentous worldview, something sinister and threatening even in its lightest moments. It’s like little else out there, so hang on tight and join them.

He’s in fine voice throughout, and even if these performances aren’t always iconic, they’re personal and often touching, even in front of some rowdy crowds. ... A compelling listen and historically significant.

The band has never been less than classy fun and the jaunty, delightful Hey! Merry Christmas! doesn’t stray from that by keeping the season alive and well with a holiday album you’ll be returning to each year.

No need digging out those Setzer albums this Christmas for your hep-cat and kitty party needs. There’s a new rockabilly rebel mixing it up, and if McPherson’s first wildly successful foray into swinging holiday cheer is any indication, this might be the start of something big.

It’s impossible to not get caught up in the sheer joy exuded by Morrison and company as he cranks out yet another winner in a bulging catalog filled with them.

Rejoice in the music of Beggars Banquet that sounds as vital today as when it was released five decades ago. But unless you’ve got money to burn, it’s best to stick with the existing versions of one of the Rolling Stones’ most immersive and enduring works.

his is not the album to play when trimming your tree, unless your family is as dysfunctional as the characters that populate most of these songs. But it’s one that will resonate for months after the last present is unwrapped.

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.