Collingwood's nasal vocals–part charming limitation, part annoying affectation–can wear thin, even when sweetened by pristine guitar arrangements and perfect backing harmonies.

Now a husband and soon-to-be father, you might expect Church to express that serenity and joy in songs about married bliss. Not here, where he prefers to sing of bruised heart and booze-filled adventures, even better fodder for his gnarled drawl

Besides the band's signature quirky lyrics, Join Us also retains its well-known staccato guitar and keyboard interplay as well as a tendency for crazy-quilt arrangements.

Young, who hails from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is acutely aware that now is the perfect time to up the musical ante, and it appears he's done just that.

The good news is, it all works.

Sure sounds a bit like a certain New Jersey rocker who was born to run and also tackled the topic of the workingman's plight, both before and after he made it big. Take that example to heart, Sam Roberts Band. Tycoon and rebel? If you do it right, you can be both.

This Loud Morning offers an irresistible balance of pop and rock to satisfy existing fans and entice new ones to Cook's musical camp, especially those oblivious to Cook's season seven Idol win.

Yet, as familiar as some of his phrases sound, lines like "the watertower has more names" are still striking in their simple evocation of what revisiting the past can be like.

Those who liked One Quiet Night, especially those familiar with the pop material Metheny is recalling, should enjoy this record. But many non-jazz listeners will find this CD dreary and sleepy, and jazz purists probably won't like it a lot either.

Red River Blue, alongside recent efforts by Blake's summer tour-mate Brad Paisley and wife Miranda Lambert, pretty much defines mainstream country these days – high-quality songs, great singing and musicianship, big production, and the same time-honored, predictable six or seven themes that we've all heard before.

On Eleven Eleven, Dave Alvin continues his transformation from journeyman musician to becoming one of the people he always idolized: the one of a kind bluesmen and storytellers, rock and rollers and poets, folk singers and road warriors whose influences he's absorbed since he was a kid growing up fast in Downey, California.

Dawes's second album succeeds on its own terms, and will appeal to fans of solid roots-rock songwriting.

A Treasure is full of little disclosures like that, deeply personal without being confessional, engaging without trying to be, and revelatory because of his small observations and his uncommon insight into ordinary detail.

The words are as woodsy and quaint as ever. Pecknold seems to take his inspiration from classic British poetry, and rarely refers to objects, characters, or events that would place him in the 21st century, relying instead on imagery like old stone fountains, seeds, keys, sand, and the night sky.

The original songs here are, perhaps surprisingly, stronger than the parodies, and Yankovich shines brightest when he is just being funny without a direct target.

It's a rich portrait, full of unexpected imagery and odd turns of phrase, which means that even though Welch has sung about drunks and prodigals so many times in the past, the songs on The Harrow & The Harvest sound both pleasingly familiar and starkly new, as if her unique vision of Americana contains an inexhaustible cast of eccentrics and an unending narrative from which she can harvest the most harrowing arcs.

She's spellbinding when she's on--aided by her penetrating and often-literary lyrics. But when her singing meanders too long without focus, you forget she's there--her energy dissipates and she blurs into background, leaving her dependent songs with nothing to do but await her return.

Finally, it seems, she's found her sweet spot in burnished southern folk-pop.

Bon Iver is a marvel.

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.

No fear on this album, none. It's an all-out emotional outpour, from the ballads to the rockers, a focus that makes sense in its own way.

Vetiver's latest record, The Errant Charm, is certainly more folk than freak.

The music is charismatic and chaotic, full of shouts, clanging and bright guitars--listen to it with your eyes closed and you'll see everything short of sparkling blue stars.

It's a Corporate World is a refreshing full-length debut that would serve well on any summer playlist.

Although the songs on Speed Of Darkness have a heavy theme, this fifth album by the band is anything but sorrowful.

All in all, the album feels like the slightest bit bloodless, the older, wiser Lerche a little less than the yearning teenager we once knew.

Ukulele Songs is lovely as it breezes by, but it doesn't promise a very long shelf-life.

None of these cropped and re-imagined takes are drastic enough to add huge insights into Bush's output as they do her finicky outlook on her own work. Work that is, generally, great in any context.