DVD REVIEW Still Bill [Late Night and Weekends] Music lovers owe filmmakers Damani Baker and Alex Vlack a debt of gratitude for their tenacity. Bill Withers has remained intensely protective of his privacy since he quit the music business 25 years ago, and the directors spent years convincing him to cooperate in the making of this priceless documentary. They somehow managed to not just film hundreds of hours of footage of Withers over two years, but... 

STEVE CROPPER & FELIX CAVALIERE Midnight Flyer [Stax] One of the challenges in convening a superstar summit is reconciling results with expectations. So if the sophomore collaboration from these two legendary names doesn’t achieve all that this pairing might promise, that doesn’t diminish their individual strengths. Rascals veteran Felix Cavaliere’s vocals have stood up well to the passage of time, as earnest and expressive as ever. Likewise,... 

PAUL THORN Pimps and Preachers [Perpetual Obscurity Records] Paul Thorn has been kicking around the edges of the Americana scene for years, opening for high-profile acts while never quite breaking through himself. It’s not for lack of artistry. His latest is a collection of vivid songs that draw on the opposite impulses Thorn absorbed from his father and an uncle—preacher and pimp, respectively—and colored with his own wry outlook. Thorn takes... 

TEENAGE FANCLUB Shadows [Merge] For years, Teenage Fanclub served a key purpose during those long stretches between Big Star reunions—the band’s rootsy, easy-breezy power-pop was a well-crafted, intermittently inspired substitute. The Glasgow group’s first album in five years arrives mere months after the death of Big Star leader Alex Chilton, so it’s fitting (if coincidental) that Shadows should be something of a somber listen. The songs... 

THE CONSTELLATIONS Southern Gothic [Virgin] The underbelly of after-hours Atlanta serves as ground zero for the seedy scenarios on Southern Gothic, the debut from that city’s eight-piece Constellations (re-released on a major after an earlier indie run). But the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce can chill—what happens here could happen most anywhere. When the strutting, magnetic vocalist Elijah Jones intones, “If you really want to live/Gotta be ready... 

THE FUTUREHEADS The Chaos [Dovecote Records] By combining echoes of punk, new wave and alt-rock, the Futureheads have established themselves as chief players in the U.K.’s modern pop pantheon, drawing comparisons to Keane, Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party. Those familiar with the angular, intense sound associated with those bands will find an easy connection here, although the Futureheads focus primarily on upping the energy level. Theirs is a jumpy,... 

JOHN BUTLER TRIO April Uprising [ATO] April Uprising represents something of a reboot for Australian singer-songwriter John Butler. After taking part in an Australian TV series that helped him trace his family roots, the hotshot guitarist discovered a strand of revolutionaries in his Bulgarian past. That revelation, coupled with a new rhythm section of bassist Byron Luiters and drummer Nicky Bomba, adds a palpable sense of discovery and urgency to... 

CHERRYHOLMES IV Common Threads [Skaggs Family Records] IV Common Threads is Sunday afternoon music, perfect for the moments when the church sermon’s still lingering in your ears as you enjoy the rest of your weekend. Several songs here touch upon religious themes, whether explicitly (“Idle Hands”) or implicitly (“It’s Your Love”). Both of those tunes come from B.J. Cherryholmes’ pen (although his brother Skip sings the latter). Sister... 

DELTA SPIRIT History From Below [Rounder] There are lots of great indie-rock acts out there, but do you want some morose shoegazers playing your July 4 picnic? Better to hire the Delta Spirit, a San Diego quintet that delivers its smart, contemplative Americana with a dash of self-awareness and an occasional smile. The band cut History From Below, its sophomore album, at the California studio favored by Tom Waits, a choice that hardly seems coincidental.... 

SARAH HARMER Oh Little Fire [Zoe/Rounder] Canadian Sarah Harmer’s fifth album offers her most engaging effort since her days in the 1990s group Weeping Tile. While her last offering, 2005’s I’m a Mountain, included intimate observations from an eco expedition through Southern Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment, the new record has her lightening her load with subjects less dire and more inclusive. By finding footing in cheerier realms, Harmer sounds... 

SERGIO MENDES Bom Tempo [Concord Records] Brazilian-born, U.S.-based Sergio Mendes staged a comeback in 2006 with his star-studded covers album, Timeless, and then solidified that return with 2008’s Encanto. Both albums were produced by Black Eyed Peas leader will.i.am. On Bom Tempo, Mendes takes the production reins himself with superb results. A sublime mix of samba rhythms, bossa nova beats and jazzy arrangements, the disc carries a glycerin-smooth... 

BLITZEN TRAPPER Destroyer of the Void [Sub Pop] Search YouTube and you’ll discover that the gods blessed us with a live cover version of the Band’s “I Shall Be Released” by Fleet Foxes and Jeff Tweedy. Blitzen Trapper’s Eric Earley lacks Tweedy’s brave introspection, but he sure sounds a hell of a lot like him, and his group’s fifth album extends the classic-rock spirit of that four-minute clip further than the Wilco frontman has on... 

THE DEAD WEATHER Sea of Cowards [Third Man/Warner Bros.] The Dead Weather was never going to be a song band. The supergroup’s 2009 debut Horehound seemed mostly an opportunity for White Stripes singer and guitarist Jack White to climb behind the drums and lay down some of the darkest, most depraved blues grooves imaginable with the help of three like-minded friends. Sea of Cowards, the quartet’s sophomore disc, is even less rooted in traditional... 

THE STANLEY CLARKE BAND The Stanley Clarke Band [Heads Up] The challenge for the jazz bassist as leader is to keep the music from becoming an exercise in bottom-focused strutting. A display of ace technique is expected, but most listeners lose interest quickly if there isn’t a song to be found among the rhythmic workouts. Stanley Clarke has always kept musicality at the fore—he understands that it’s not only possible but essential to entertain... 

MARAH Life is a Problem [Valley Farm Songs] The latest release from Marah comes with a lot of firsts. As usual, there have been changes in the lineup—Marah is now essentially the duo of singer and guitarist Dave Bielanko and keyboardist Christine Smith. Life Is a Problem is also the first Marah album not released on CD in the U.S. Instead, it’s available in hipster-deluxe gatefold LP, MP3 and cassette (yes, you read that correctly) formats. As... 

JIM LAUDERDALE Patchwork River [Thirty Tigers] Veteran singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale collaborated with legendary Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter for Patchwork River, and the result is a lovably twisted genre piece. Always an evocative singer, Lauderdale clearly relishes biting off existential verses such as “What do you get when you cross the street against the light with a cyclone fence?” In the best Dead tradition, Lauderdale and Hunter’s... 

CADILLAC SKY Letters in the Deep [Dualtone] Never known as a strictly bluegrass band, Cadillac Sky continues its musical evolution. With the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach on board as producer, the group incorporates rock elements (would Bill Monroe have ever used a Mellotron?) without abandoning their acoustic roots. Newcomer David Mayfield makes his presence known with a stinging electric guitar run on the opening cut, “Trapped Under the Ice.” “Trash... 

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM This is Happening [Capitol] The cliché is that people drink to forget, and the same is true for dance music, as care-nullifying a zone as ever existed. But James Murphy dances—or creates dance music—to remember. The music he masterminds under the LCD Soundsystem banner is at least as focused on lyrics as beats, and the one-man band’s third album, This Is Happening, goes for the gloriously neurotic. It’s very nearly a concept... 

MACY GRAY The Sellout [Concord Records] More than 10 years have passed since Macy Gray struck gold with her smash hit, “I Try.” That old-school soul song and the debut album from which it sprang (On How Life Is) served as a kind of gateway drug for the likes of Amy Winehouse and Joss Stone. Gray has since floundered, releasing albums that either lacked direction (2001’s The Id) or were over-polished (2007’s Big). Happily, The Sellout marks... 

WE ARE SCIENTISTS Barbara [Masterswan/Megaforce] On a micro level—minutes and seconds—We Are Scientists is obsessed with time. On its third album, the New York City trio moves quickly from hook-worthy verses to still-catchier choruses, offering little that cannot be hummed. The stopwatch is constantly running, and even on the Goth-tinged ballad “Pittsburgh,” founders Keith Murray and Chris Cain won’t let things drag. In a macro sense—eras... 

JACK JOHNSON To the Sea [Brushfire] Jack Johnson may still be strumming his guitar lazily in the sand from time to time, but To the Sea suggests that he’s running into the house more often to experiment with his sound. It’s a low-key compromise for the millions who love him for being so easily digestible and those who were losing patience with his mellow, beach bum vibe. To listeners in the second group, some small changes to the very bankable... 

BOOK REVIEW Robert Rodriguez Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles’ Solo Years, 1970-1980 [Backbeat Books] No act in the history of rock ’n’ roll has been as thoroughly documented and dissected in print as the Beatles, from Hunter Davies’ 1968 authorized biography The Beatles to recent major efforts like Bob Spitz’s The Beatles: The Biography. But just when it seems like every possible angle on the group has been covered, one more writer suffering... 

The Jayhawks The Jayhawks [Lost Highway] In 1986 a young band from Minnesota released its self-titled first album, pressing only 2,000 vinyl copies on a small local label called Bunkhouse Records. The Jayhawks went on to find a national audience for their peculiarly Midwestern blend of rock and country, highlighted by the harmonic and creative interplay between singer-songwriters Mark Olson and Gary Louris. As the group’s influence grew and its... 

DVD REVIEW Rock ’n’ Roll High School [Shout Factory] After making his name with low budget sci-fi fare such as Little Shop of Horrors, Piranha and Humanoids From the Deep, producer Roger Corman decided that he wanted to pull in a younger audience via a music-themed film. He came up with a concept he called Disco High School and enlisted director Allan Arkush to transform his vision into reality. Fortunately, Arkush convinced him to scrub the disco... 

PAUL WELLER Wake Up the Nation [Yep Roc] Each new Paul Weller album is cause for cautious optimism. He’s never really made a bad record, but over the last three decades, he’s failed to recapture the energy of his seminal mod-punk trio the Jam. On his 10th solo effort, Weller comes as close as he likely ever will to a Jam reunion. That’s true in terms of personnel—Jam bassist Bruce Foxton joins him on two tracks—and performance. Despite moments... 

TIFT MERRITT See You on the Moon [Fantasy] From the first downbeat of the opening track, “Mixtape,” Tift Merritt’s latest boasts songwriting far deeper and more visceral than anything she’s done to date. Set against a sparse combo arrangement and some darting Gamble & Huff-worthy strings, Merritt lays out a love letter without sounding the least bit mawkish. From there on out she opts for a sparser sound that’s no less effective. The... 

THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS Things That Fly [Sugar Hill] Since the late ’60s, acoustic string bands have taken the bluegrass format and pushed it beyond its strict confines. The Infamous Stringdusters fall somewhere between traditional bluegrass and those genre-blasting progressives—Things That Fly, the sextet’s third album, wouldn’t sound entirely alien to Bill Monroe, but neither should the jam-band crowd shy away from it. The basic instrumentation—guitar,... 

JONNY LANG Live at the Ryman [Concord Records] Since Jonny Lang’s been absent from the recording studio since 2006, a cynic might assume that this live package (recorded in the summer of 2008 at Nashville’s famous Ryman Auditorium) exists merely to keep the former blues prodigy’s name alive. The thing about Lang, though, is that the two talents that made him famous—the shockingly mature growl and guitar work—only ran so far on his proper... 

ROKY ERICKSON WITH OKKERVIL RIVER True Love Cast Out All Evil [Anti-] Roky Erickson’s mid-1960s singles with the 13th Floor Elevators—and even his mid-’70s solo singles—are garage-rock classics, not so much for the writing as for the amazing vocals. He was one of those rare rock ’n’ roll singers who could be melodic even as he was wildly yelping. But after 45 years of hard living, that voice is gone. What remains is the legend—and the... 

JOHNNY GIMBLE Celebrating With Friends [CMH Records] Johnny Gimble’s record company is calling the latest release from the Western swing veteran Celebrating With Friends. The artist himself seems to know where the emphasis ought to be and is marketing the same album online with the title Still Swingin’.Whatever you call it, this isn’t an album that’s enhanced much by guest spots. Its joys come from the 83-year-old fiddler himself, who still... 

VARIOUS ARTISTS Glee: The Power of Madonna [Columbia] So long has “Like a Virgin” been a camp classic that to see it performed on TV by characters actually contemplating their sexual awakening is astonishingly moving. That’s the kind of reinvention that Glee, the music-packed hit show about a high-school glee club, does best. It’s no surprise, then, that the standouts on this EP featuring the seven songs from the show’s April all-Madonna... 

GREG LASWELL Take a Bow [Vanguard] Over the course of three albums and three EPs, Greg Laswell has fostered a subdued sound that whispers softly but leaves an enormous impression. The self-produced Take a Bow is no exception. It’s his most formidable set yet, one that dispels the ambiguity of earlier efforts and replaces it with more stirring melodies and a genuinely compelling sonic palette. As always, Laswell specializes in minor-key ballads,... 

YUSEF LATEEF AND ADAM RUDOLPH Towards the Unknown [Meta] Yusef Lateef and Adam Rudolph get so much out of so little. Lateef, 90, remains one of the most adventurous composers and performers in jazz and an improviser nonpareil. Armed with tenor saxophone and several flutes, he and longtime percussionist collaborator Rudolph create rich sonic panoramas on Towards the Unknown by augmenting the spare instrumentation at the core with unconventional orchestral... 

AQUALUNG Magnetic North [Verve Music Group] It’s not surprising that Aqualung leader Matt Hales’ career was kickstarted by a song featured in a Volkswagen television ad. A purveyor of lightly orchestrated piano pop, the Brit-turned-Californian makes populist music that goes down easy and runs determinedly forward. Nothing wrong with that, mind you, but Hale’s yearning falsetto and tinkly melodies—on full display on Magnetic North—are flavored... 

GOGOL BORDELLO Trans-Continental Hustle [Columbia] Hearing no style of music manic or multicultural enough to express his lusts for life and travel, Ukrainian native Eugene Hutz was forced to create one. The result is Gogol Bordello, a band whose brand of  “gypsy punk”—a propulsive ska-polka-thrash fusion—is as divisive as it is distinctive. Since 1999, Gogol Bordello has released a series of albums whose neon covers speak volumes about the... 

THE GOLDEN FILTER Voluspa [Brille Records] After carefully cultivating an enigmatic air through a series of singles, remixes and artfully composed photographs obscuring their faces, the Golden Filter finally steps out with its full-length debut—and dispels none of the mystery. Voluspa, named for an ancient epic Norse creation-myth poem, is 11 tracks of gauzy electro-pop, with ethereal vocals from Penelope Trappes over pulsing synthesizers and gently... 

CROOKED STILL Some Strange Country [Signature Sounds] Crooked Still’s fourth album arrives with a fitting title, for with this release the band has solidified its hold on musical territory that few if any have trod before. Is it folk? Or old-time? Is it bluegrass, or newgrass? Some species of classically styled chamber music? It sounds like all of those things, sometimes within the span of a single song. (The sweep of “Locust in the Willow”... 

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER The Age of Miracles [Real World] Is there a songwriter who needed a dose of big-picture perspective less than Mary Chapin Carpenter? Even her 1990s country-pop hits practically defied radio with their profundity. Nevertheless, The Age of Miracles explores the emotional aftermath of a pulmonary embolism that nearly killed Carpenter in 2007. “Everything that you know can disappear,” she muses on “Iceland,” while the upbeat... 

JEFF HEALEY Last Call [Stony Plain] Although he was known primarily for his scorching electric blues-rock guitar work, the late Jeff Healey was also a passionate lover of early 20th-century jazz. Last Call, recorded in 2007, is the fourth album to feature Healey paying tribute to that music. Healey, who here sings and plays trumpet (as he did on his other jazz outings), is accompanied by only two other musicians, clarinetist and pianist Ross Wooldridge... 

CARRIE RODRIGUEZ Love & Circumstance [Ninth Street Opus] On her third solo release, fiddler Carrie Rodriguez covers a collection of influential songs with the ease and finesse of someone far older than her 31 years. Pedal steel ace Greg Leisz anchors the understated folk-country arrangements, while the harmony vocals of Aoife O’Donovan and Buddy Miller (the latter on Merle Haggard’s “I Started Loving You Again”) add depth to Rodriguez’s... 

JOSH ROUSE El Turista [Yep Roc] Longtime Tennessee resident Josh Rouse’s relocation to Spain has clearly given this soft-spoken singer-songwriter a burst of inspiration. However, the sound of El Turista suggests his true fascination these days resides with Brazilian rhythms, as filtered through the influences of Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto and Gilberto Gil. Sung partially in Spanish and only occasionally in English, El Turista exudes charm befitting... 

OZOMATLI Fire Away [Mercer Street/Downtown] Ozomatli’s music has been called a collision of styles, a cultural mash-up, and a 20-car pileup of genres. It’s also some of the most joyfully energetic music you’ll ever hear. On its fifth album, the L.A.-based band stirs its blend of salsa, ska, samba, funk, and hip-hop in ways few groups could conceive. Imagine tossing the English Beat, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Caetano Veloso, and Sly... 

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu [Decca] For a dozen years, the arrangements on Rufus Wainwright’s albums got busier and his sometimes naughty, occasionally angry declarations of gay pride got louder. Each new offering suggested that its creator was a few strides closer to crafting something truly monumental in both musical and social terms. This cold and private set isn’t it, although that’s probably due more to personal... 

COURT YARD HOUNDS Court Yard Hounds [Columbia] A side project of Dixie Chicks’ Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, Court Yard Hounds delivers much-anticipated insight—both musical and personal—into the sisters who have for so long ceded center stage to Chicks singer Natalie Maines. Though steeped in familiar instrumentation, the album offers little of the barn-burning brashness that made the Chicks famous (save perhaps the gutsy “Ain’t No... 

HOLE Nobody’s Daughter [Universal] The first album released under the Hole moniker since 1998’s Celebrity Skin is really frontwoman Courtney Love’s second solo album—co-founder, songwriter and lead guitarist Eric Erlandson isn’t involved, nor is any other previous Hole member. So it’s Love and three ringers on 11 new songs—10 of which Love wrote with collaborators like Billy Corgan, Linda Perry and new guitarist Micko Larkin. (Perry... 

BOOK REVIEW JACK BRUCE: COMPOSING HIMSELF By Harry Shapiro [Jawbone Books] Jack Bruce was arguably the most influential bass player of his time. One could easily make the case that it was his unbridled improvisational explorations with Cream in the late 1960s (along with bandmates Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker) that led directly to the birth of fusion music in the early ’70s. Before Jaco Pastorius, before Victor Wooten, there was no one flashier... 

GRETCHEN WILSON I Got Your Country Right Here [Redneck Records] Gretchen Wilson’s 2004 debut album Here for the Party was a bawdy, ballsy blast of old-school attitude that knocked the country music establishment on its ear. But while that album succeeded by being refreshingly different from the moribund mainstream country of the moment, each successive release has been marked by an ever-constricting musical conservatism that has served only to... 

GREAT AMERICAN TAXI Reckless Habits [Thirty Tigers] Great American Taxi takes a highway through the heartland that leads straight from the Mississippi Delta to the Colorado Rockies, dissecting other equally diverse realms in between. Born out of an all-star jam session featuring singer and keyboardist Chad Staehly and singer, guitarist and mandolin player Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon, Great American Taxi grew rapidly into a full-blown combo five... 

REISSUE REVIEW IGGY AND THE STOOGES Raw Power (Legacy Edition) [Columbia/Legacy] There’s something unsettling about seeing one of the most chaotic and dangerous bands ever to destroy a stage institutionalized in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but this year indeed marks Iggy Pop and his Stooges’ induction. Likewise, it’s a little odd to be confronted with a fancy expanded reissue of something as primal and fierce as 1973’s Raw Power, an album... 

VARIOUS ARTISTS The New Jazz Divas [Shout! Factory] The press material for this release—the first in NPR’s Discover Songs series—reference by first-name-only the divas who came before: Ella, Sarah, Dinah, Nina, Billie, Anita. The implication, one supposes, is that some day you will also come to know Madeleine, Esperanza, Eliane, Tierney and Melody in the same way. Whether those contemporary women (surnames: Peyroux, Spalding, Elias, Sutton and...