JSP's five-CD collection is easily the most complete, essential collection of the Carter Family's music available, capturing and remastering their RCA Victor recordings (their later, less-seminal sessions for Decca and the American Record Company are not included). The trio's setup was primitive enough-guitar, Autoharp and vocals-but in the late 1920s, AP Delaney Carter, his wife Sara and his sister-in-law Maybelle would change (chart?) the course of country music forever. They did it with haunting harmonies, incredible guitar playing (thanks to Maybelle's driving strums on her Gibson L-5 guitar) and a vast repertoire that included murder ballads, gospel tunes, love songs and Appalachian folk tunes-many of which would be covered by musicians for decades to come. Unlike their musical peers in the late 1920s and early 30s, the Carters weren't just playing "hillbilly" music; this was, quite simply, country music and their timeless output still resonates with listeners today. Hearing five CDs' worth of music from the Carter Family is almost sensory overload-from the initial 1927 Bristol Sessions, which Johnny Cash hailed as "the single most important event in the history of country music", to their Depression-era recordings. Even today, Sara Carter's voice sounds aching, yet empowered. Whether they're yodelling through "The Foggy Mountain Top", singing a feminist anthem such as "Single Girl, Married Girl", or harmonising with Maybelle on "Worried Man Blues", you can hear the Carters' profound influence on country music. -Jason Verlinde.

Winter Marquee, recorded at Knoxville's Tennessee Theatre on May 29, 2002, sees Nanci Griffith at her finest once again. Backed by her long-time band, the Blue Moon Orchestra, she gives her songs a grit and ebullience they have not always possessed on studio albums. Opening with a delicate cover of John Prine's "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness", she moves quickly towards a smooth treatment of Dylan's folky "Boots of Spanish Leather", a cover that, along with her own "Travelling Through This Part of You", makes you hope Griffith will become yet more rootsy as time passes. Elsewhere, there's an absolutely beautiful string-laden take on her classic "There's a Light Beyond These Woods", "The Flyer" is given new energy by a tom-tom beat and rolling piano, and Emmylou Harris provides vocal harmonies to "Good Night, New York", a new song by Julie Gold, writer of Griffith's hit "From a Distance". For fans, this is an essential purchase. -Dominic Wills.

Though not a conceptual narrative like his earlier Hotwalker, Love & Fear is Tom Russell offering a rootsy, Southwestern evocation of what Frank Sinatra called "the September of my years" - an album of thematically related material that ranks with his finest. The "love" of the title, in its infinite variety, permeates every track, while the "fear" is less fear of getting old or fear of death than, perhaps, fear of not making the most then of what he knows now. And knowing, in a lustful song such as "Beautiful Trouble," that he's capable of making those same mistakes (if they are mistakes) all over again. The bittersweet romanticism of "The Pugilist at 59" and "Ash Wednesday" could make converts of Springsteen diehards, the narrative of "Stolen Children" is about as bitter as Russell gets, and the rockier propulsion of "Stealing Electricity" and "Four Chambered Heart" pushes his music into edgier territory. "It All Goes Away" and "All the Fine Young Ladies" cast Russell as the older-and-wiser sage, while there's a hint of supper-club lounge in the closing "Old Heart". The spirit of the album feels like a benediction, but the creative vitality suggests that Russell has plenty more to offer. -Don McLeese.

It's impossible to underestimate the impact of Emmylou Harris's sublime solo debut Pieces of the Sky, the 1975 album that propelled country music into a whole new era. And it is only right that Anthology, this welcome and long-overdue retrospective, should start off with three songs from that album, including "Boulder to Birmingham"-a testament to her mentor Gram Parsons-and, a quarter of a century on, still one of the best examples of Harris's haunting vocal style. With the help of some rare singles and CD premieres, the 40-odd tracks here cover every facet of an extraordinary career from 1975 to 1990: the sensitive covers ("Here, There & Everywhere", "Save the Last Dance for Me"); duets (with Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt); and frequent detours through the highways and byways of country music ("Wayfaring Stranger"; "If I Could Only Win Your Love"). Emmylou Harris still makes spellbinding music today, and this Anthology is a reminder of just why she holds a special place in so many hearts. -Patrick Humphries.

It's hard to know what to make of Will Oldham, partly because he refuses ever to reveal his biography, partly because his music is opaque to the point of total blackness. With various Palace incarnations, Oldham has obsessed over lower than lo-fi quasi-country music, and his first full length solo album, continues with his raging sonic sermons of apocalypse, despair, evil, and sex. The sound moves slow as a 101-degree day in his native Louisville; the overall effect is troubling. -Roy Francis Kasten.