GARY LOURIS - Vagabonds

The Jayhawks frontman, Golden Smog lurker and recent Sadies producer finally ventures out under his own name, the pictured 40-track "master song list" suggesting that Louris has been keeping quite a few tunes in his back pocket. Picking ten tracks with help from producer Chris Robinson (Black Crowes), this is an incredibly understated session, with Hammond organ and pedal steel aplenty, the relaxed nature of which bears fruit with the backing vocals of the Laurel Canyon Family Choir, better known as friends such as Robinson, Jenny Lewis, Vetiver's Andy Cabic, and lead Bangle Susanna Hoffs. 

JIM FORD - Point Of No Return

AWOL for decades until he was tracked down in a Mendocino trailer park, Bear Family has already graciously given us an expanded edition of Ford's lost 1969 R&B/country classic Harlan County as Sounds Of Our Time (#21 on our Staff Best of 2007 reissues, for those playing the home game). After Sounds' success, reissue producer L.P. Anderson planned to put together a new studio album and even a live concert appearance for his client, all to take place in 2008. Sadly, Ford died in November of last year--this collection is the second of what Anderson promises will be a series of archival releases.

KATE MAKI - On High

For her third album, Sudbury's Kate Maki headed due east to Ottawa, enlisting Dave Draves of Little Bullhorn Studio and Howe Gelb of Giant Sand (a return visitor, having tracked his gospel-tinged 'Sno Angel Like You there) to engineer/produce. Plainspoken and melancholy, Maki's voice is less adorned with rootsy drawl than many of her peers, a style that suits the direct, off-the-floor feel. There's a great group dynamic at work here between Maki, Gelb and Draves on the board, and crucial contributors Nathan Lawr and Dale Murray, especially evident on the unassumingly strange jug-band number "To Please".

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS - Brighter Than Creation's Dark

The music of the Drive-By Truckers remains largely the same after the departure of Jason Isbell--a proudly working-class amalgam of rock and country as inclined toward tender pedal steel elegies as rip-roaring triple guitar stomps. The musicianship and music is solid, but one can't help feeling that a lyric-writing clinic would help. When subjects get heavy, as on "Daddy Needs A Drink" or the Iraq vet ode "That Man I Shot", their words get stuck in cliche and awkward phrasing. Maybe the solution is a 40-minute album instead of an 80-minute one? There's a soild 10-song album lurking here. 

MARAH - Angels of Destruction!

This Philadelphia band finds itself tagged as 'roots rock' a lot. Often enough for it to become a bit of a kiss of death. Thankfully, their music is able to show up neatly for any one curious enough to see what lies beneath the cliched genre tag. Solid rock n' roll for the No Depression set, Marah have a decade's worth of credentials behind them, but the arrival of a new member, Christine Smith, has provided welcome respite from ten years of familiarities. As such, Angels of Destruction! is not a reinvention so much as a revitalization--a confident restating of the original manifesto of gutsy homages to Springsteen and Dylan.

GRAM PARSONS - Archives Volume One: Live At The Avalon Ballroom 1969 with the Flying Burrito Bros.

A pivotal force in the transformation of the Byrds; the inspiration behind The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses"; youthful singing partner of Emmylou Harris; dead at 26 via the usual career-making cause of drug overdose. Despite all of these claims to fame, the influential country/rock prototype that was Gram Parsons is a relative unknown. Even the crowds on this rare 2CD set are an appropriate mixture of wildly enthusiastic and politely indifferent. All of which perfectly suits Parsons' legend: he was an artist of immense inspiration and bad luck whose beautiful music still waits to be discovered by so many.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - The Best Of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour

Started in 2006 and running for 50 episodes, the first season of Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour confirmed a few things: he has a great affinity for the early country/blues/folk/jazz artists that shaped him as a youth; and he is a keen observer of modern culture, as evidenced by the occasional LL Cool J, Blur or Streets tune tossed into the mix. This 2CD, 52 song release takes at least one song from each of the programs, covering themes like Hair, Coffee, Weather, and The Devil. As a collection of the roots of American Music, it's dead-on and nicely balanced between the well-known and the obscure.

ANDY SWAN - Ottawa

What strikes you first about Ottawa is its adherence to classic country pop structures. But not long afterwards, your ears are tickled by tender, wry lyrics—whether they be a winking tribute to doomed founding Rolling Stone Brian Jones or lines like "You may be as free as/ some saxophone free jazz". Swan borrows a Sweetheart Of The Rodeo template to serve as platform for a timeless collection of songs. These tunes are simple, but never simple-minded—between Swan's touching vocal delivery and the crack band's gently understated playing, everyone tows the party line to create a little gem of a disc.

ROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS - Raising Sand

Understatement has never been Robert Plant's strong suit. In Led Zeppelin's heyday, that was a good thing. As he's grown older, however, his lack of restraint has been a real Achilles' heel. So, hearing him sing with such gentle touch on Raising Sand is quite mesmerizing. No doubt matching voices with the exceptional Krauss forced him to keep things in check, and the spooky guidance of T-Bone Burnett was likely a huge factor. Still, this record's bloody gorgeous. Saying that Raising Sand is Plant's best work since John Bonham was alive could be taken as faint praise; it's meant as anything but.

CUFF THE DUKE - Sidelines Of The City

Following singer Wayne Petti's tender solo album earlier this year, Cuff The Duke return with a third record that rests somewhere between the earnest straight-and-narrow of Blue Rodeo and Wilco's detours. If these references aren't exactly original, the songs are of strong quality--minus a couple slight lyrical missteps, this record is full of solid tunes and Petti's voice delivers them perfectly. "Remember The Good Times" should by all rights be a hit radio single (if those things existed anymore) and the band plays with a trained ear for loving detail.

STEVE EARLE - Washington Square Serenade

At this point in his career, Steve Earle has checked off nearly every stage on the rock n' roll checklist: brash young upstart, brushes with the law, near-fatal substance abuse issues, and an unexpected musical resurrection that continues today. Now you can add a move to New York City to his CV. The sights, sounds, and themes of his new digs permeate the songs of Washington Square Serenade, offering him a way to rejuvenate his work. Earle is slowly becoming as much an icon as many of his heroes and his latest quietly adds to an already great body of work. Fans will once more find much to love.

THE SADIES - New Seasons

The music of Toronto's Sadies is the pure resurrection of spirits from a 1950s rock n' roll cemetery. This is not the clunky, Frankenstein's monster of a weekend-warrior cover band. This is a time machine, a communion with the dead, a seance so real that you can shake hands with the deceased as their spirits float through your body. Not that this is morbid music in any way: it's just heavy. That's because The Sadies are now more than just a "band". So schooled are they in their style of music, that they are at that moment where the ardent students have become the teachers. School's in suckas.

OAKLEY HALL - I'll Follow You

Oakley Hall's first album for indie powerhouse Merge is one that fully warrants their signing. Long a good group full of great potential, I'll Follow You fulfills the promise by displaying confidence in the basic tools of rock n' roll--strong singing, solid writing, and relaxed band communication. What once felt like an adopted country-rock pose has grown into the kind of quiet assuredness for which many bands would kill. Given the chance, this album could secretly become one of your faves of the year.

VIC CHESNUTT - North Star Deserter

As they did last year with Carla Bozulich, the crew at Montreal's Hotel 2 Tango studio help a revered, underappreciated talent release their best work in years. This time around, songwriter Vic Chesnutt makes the trek to Monty and finds sympathetic accompaniment in locals the Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra. Producing is filmmaker Jem Cohen, best known for his documentary work with Fugazi. It seems an odd choice until you hear the album, one draped in baroque, cinematic granduer. Powerful and spare, it is the type of noir record for which Montreal is rightly famous.

OAKLEY HALL - I'll Follow You

This is the fourth release by Oakley Hall and is by far their best yet. Like all great albums it gets better with every listen and is quickly becoming one of my favorites of the year. Like the previous albums, I'll Follow You mixes up the vocal duties between Pat Sullivan and Leah Blessoff with great success whether it be on one of the more psychedelic tracks or the quieter ballads. Although strong from start to finish, some standouts include "Marine Life", "Rue the Blues" and "Take My Hands, We're Free". Definitely worth checking out for new and old fans.