OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW Carry Me Back [ATO] In the four years since Old Crow Medicine Show’s last studio album, string music has gone from acquired-taste appetizer to semi-standard entrée. While acts like the Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops and Crooked Still have done their part to push the string-meets-bluegrass-meets-alt-country format ahead, Old Crow’s absence left a thirst not easily quenched. Fans craving new Old Crow will find Carry... 

ALABAMA SHAKES  Boys & Girls [ATO] Alabama Shakes plays in a pocket deep enough to lose your keys in. It’s like a protective bubble for the quintet, which has managed to ignore inflated industry expectations to record this fierce, compelling debut LP. Although the band insists it’s not a retro-soul act, Boys & Girls is drenched in guitar, organ, round bass and edge-of-the-beat drums. What truly elevates Alabama Shakes, though, is Brittany... 

THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Go-Go Boots [ATO] Like Colonel Sanders’ chicken, Patterson Hood’s songwriting is a testament to the power of a good formula. The lead Trucker tends to write about doomed Southern schemers—victims of fate, folly or some combination of the two—and he introduces yet another cast of Dixie miscreants on the band’s ninth album. Most are dark, desperate characters; Hood devotes two whole songs—the title track and “The... 

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... 

THE WHIGS In the Dark [ATO] On their second major label offering, Athens, Ga., trio the Whigs expand their ambitions to create a stylistic mesh of alt-rock, garage-rock and more. In the Dark is built on propulsive rhythms and unrelenting intensity that circle the divide midway between Kings of Leon and U2. Singer Parker Gispert veers towards the dark side, particularly when he’s raging and ranting via “Hundred/Million,” “Black Lotus” and... 

PATTY GRIFFIN + Downtown Church Patty Griffin is, by her own religious estimation, a lapsed Catholic of no certain faith. So she might seem like an odd duck to be doing a “gospel album”—except that hers is a voice you hope to hear sing not only the phone book but also the Bible, Koran and Bhagavad Gita, if possible. In any case, there’s nothing pat or predictable about the quietly stunning Downtown Church, which finds Griffin focusing on black...