New Favorite is the first album released by Alison Krauss and Union Station since their role in the megahit soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?-an album that's done more to advance the cause of bluegrass since Bill Monroe first conjured the music out of the hills of western Kentucky. While their previous full album, Forget About It, showcased the more contemporary part of Krauss's musical equation and the O Brother soundtrack spotlighted the more traditional, New Favorite combines the approaches in balancing the softer sounds with the rougher-edged material. Krauss' soft and intimate vocals particularly shine on the soulful title tune of love gone cold. However, it's mostly the older sounds that you'll remember from this largely sombre album, one that telegraphs uncertainty, doom, and the promise of bloodshed throughout much of the repertoire. On "Momma Cried", a song about a child-snatching that tore a family asunder, Dan Tyminski's tenor vocals rise above a wailing dobro, a driving banjo and a thumping, anchoring bass to convey unspeakable pain. Too many of the pop-minded songs fall flat in comparison, but although this may not be the group's best effort overall, no other crossover bluegrass band begins to meet their mark either musically or emotionally, as New Favorite so amply shows. -Alanna Nash.

"Appalachia circa 1907" is the way they described it after release. It wasn't, of course, but it was as close as you could come in 1987 and still hope to sell the million copies that this ended up selling. The "Three Tenors" of country music juggle leads, complement each other to often haunting effect and subjugate their egos to a greater cause. The songs run the gamut from primordial country favourites like "Rosewood Casket" and "Hobo's Meditation", to 1950s pop (a rather anomalous "To Know Him Is To Love Him") and mainstream country. The instrumentation is restrained, the vocals are unfailingly lovely and the result is a trio that is more than the sum of its parts. -Colin Escott.

When it comes to pure and simple songwriting, few can rival Beth Nielsen Chapman, and Lookis another powerful addition to her cannon. So far, her work has been covered successfully by Faith Hill, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt and myriad others and her artist peers will surely find much to feed upon here. In a sense, it's a concept album, the concept being "love" in all its forms. Having recently recovered from breast cancer, Chapman is clearly ready to embrace humanity in all its flawed beauty. Thus we have tales of enduring love, love passed by, romantic love, destructive love, redemptive love and love for the dearly departed, all of them delivered with impressive warmth and charm. Importantly, they're all also performed deadly straight-thankfully, there are no vocal pyrotechnics to divert one's attention from the songs. And what songs they are, Chapman creating a smooth blend of country, pop, jazz and soft soul that's varied in style, tone and mood yet consistent in its excellence. Arguably, she's at her best when indulging her love for show tunes, as she does with the title track and the quiet, exotic "The Reason". -Dominic Wills.

Recorded in April, 2002 in Louisville, Kentucky, Alison Krauss + Union Station Live is, surprisingly, the sweet-voiced fiddler's first live album. Unsurprisingly, it's also a marvellous showcase of radio-friendly, popular contemporary bluegrass: Krauss' dreamy voice, the most gorgeous in all Country music, impeccably supported by some of the world's finest musicians. Bill Monroe-worshipping purists might prefer a more hard-driven sound, but with music as ravishing as this it seems churlish to complain about the odd missing mandolin. With Krauss and co. still riding high after the crossover success of the Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, this two-disc live set features obligatory renditions of "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" (Dan Tyminski's showpiece) and the spine-tingling a cappella "Down to the River to Pray", here with Krauss' ethereal contralto harmonised by the men's voices. Elsewhere, much of the bestselling New Favorite album is performed, alongside a "greatest hits" selection of older material. Dobro genius Jerry Douglas takes a solo spot, but like the very best bluegrass this concert is a meeting of equals, and one not to be missed by any Country music fan. -Mark Walker.

Widely acknowledged as one of the very best of his 20 or so post- Fairport Convention albums, Rumor & Sigh is a challenging-and sometimes rambling-affair, with Thompson juxtaposing rock against folk as well as going off on blues and polka excursions. The settings, too, reflect the urban and the rural, and the subject matter ranges from homicidal tendencies in the rocking classic of "I Feel So Good", through the jokey tribute to the old Scottish bandleader in "Don't Sit On My Jimmy Shand" and to love lost in the extremely moving "I Misunderstood". -Tim Perry.

In recent years, Mary Chapin Carpenter-once among the most promising stars of the folkie infiltration of Nashville ("Down at the Twist and Shout," "I Feel Lucky")-abandoned all desire to dot the country music charts. Free of that ill-fitting yoke she returned to being what she really was all along: A literate acoustic singer-songwriter. In 2004, she released a tour de force, Between Here and Gone, which combined affecting social commentary on the events of 9/11 with personal meditations on her changed life as a married woman living in rural Virginia. The Calling picks up where that album left off, using the same co-producer, pianist Matt Rollings, and core musicians, including John Jennings, who helped Carpenter shape her sonic landscape some 20 years ago. If the new album goes farther in advocating a political conscience-"On with the Song" takes jabs at the jingoistic rubes who dissed the Dixie Chicks, while "Why Shouldn't We" insists we'll have worthy heroes in office again one day-it largely invokes the same quiet, warm, and conversational tone as its predecessor. On the whisper-soft "Twilight," which frames a perfect, peaceful evening with a nearly spiritual grace, a listener might easily imagine himself chatting with the artist about long-held secrets and shared experiences, the Blue Ridge Mountains looming in the background. That is part of Carpenter's gift-connecting with her audience's shadow self, using her deeply nuanced alto to fill even the simplest words with profound knowing. As a pure craftsman, however, she ranks with the giants of past generations in capturing the small, bruised hearts seemingly lost in the chaos of a catastrophic event. "Houston," one such song here, recalls Woody Guthrie's great "Deportee" in its power and the pathos of the Hurricane Katrina victims who were forced to evacuate their homes, leaving everything behind but fear and hope. "Mama's got her baby/Sleeping in a grocery cart," it begins, at once setting up a picture of wrenching desperation. [+]

Johnny Cash had been breaking new ground for a decade when At Folsom Prison suddenly made the world at large take notice. The interaction of a volatile prison population starved for entertainment and a desperately on-form Johnny Cash was electrifying. His sombre machismo finally found a home. The songs, which included every prison song Cash knew ("I Got Stripes", "The Wall", "25 Minutes to Go", "Cocaine Blues", plus his own "Folsom Prison Blues") were tailored to galvanise the crowd. This set is all about atmosphere. Live at the Grand Ole Opry this is not. The 1999 version drops the San Quentin portion of the original CD reissue, instead adding three cuts to complete the full and uncensored Folsom show. -Colin Escott.

Keeping with the grand new tradition of country music stars breathing new life into the latter parts of their careers, Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose finds the coal miner's daughter teaming up with White Stripes svengali Jack White, who produces, plays guitar and duets on "Portland Oregon" (where he's easily outshined by Lynn). And, like the later work of Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton, the result is a resounding success. White is a traditionalist at heart and he treats Lynn's music with both respect and restraint; this is most definitely a country album, though it's a rocking one. Pedal steel, dobro, banjo and fiddle are all here, alongside White's blues-tinged electric guitar, but the star is Lynn's voice: worn, warm and full of heart. Her storytelling abilities come to the fore on the title track, the album's highlight, and her ability to spin a phrase in a country way is highlighted on songs like "Family Tree" (a tale of a wife confronting her husband's lover) and the lament "Miss Being Mrs". But really, there isn't a dud track here, from the celebratory stomp of "High on a Mountain Top" to the restrained spiritual "God Makes No Mistakes", to the accompanied spoken-story "Little Red Shoes". White's contribution should open Lynn's music up to a well-deserved wider audience. Really, though, one would be hard-pressed to find a better album by this country legend. -Robert Burrow.