Music

The Harrow and the Harvest pushes Gillian Welch's winning formula further. On Mockingbird Time, the Jayhawks' sweet harmonies and gritty edges are finally back. There's a hefty dose of early Paul Simon on Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues. "Soul" is as good a word as any for Liz Janes's groovy little record Say Goodbye. Tom Waits's Bad As Me is accessible enough to convert some skeptics. And The Head and the Heart's self-titled debut is the feel-good record of the year.

At a book signing, Steve Earle was speaking when someone leaned on a light switch and the windowless room went dark. "Did I die?" Earle asked in a quiet voice.

While it's hard to imagine many pop artists signing up to write a song cycle based on the history of classical music, for Amos—whom  Deutsche Grammophon approached with this idea—the project seems almost inevitable.

Works Progress Administration is a loose collective of a supergroup, primarily a collaboration between Glen Phillips and Sean Watkins.

Earlier this year, NPR's All Songs Considered solicited Ryan Lott, aka Son Lux, for an experiment: could he write and record an album in one month? Lott agreed.

Dove Award winner Francesca Battis­telli has proved to be a refreshing breeze in the musty swamp of the Christian music industry, delivering material that sparkles with energy and vibrancy.

Dylan fans rejoice at any opening of the vaults—this is volume 9 in his Bootleg Series—but this double disc also welcomes anyone who is new to the '60s pioneer.

Since recently reuniting, the Smoking Popes have been a different band from their 1990s heyday.

Lutheran rocker Jonathan Rundman is nothing if not prolific. Here he teams with violinist Sara Pajunen to form Kaivama, a folk music duo that yields tasty instrumentals with a Finnish accent.

In a recent Chicago concert, these real-life sisters (Laura and Lydia Rogers) sounded like angelic apparitions channeled from the Grand Ole Opry circa 1955.