A certain rustic, old-fashioned folksy attitude is stitched through the musical fabric of Ontario, Canada's Basia Bulat, a heartfelt and straightforward sensibility that emerges fresh-faced and clear-eyed, fusing simplicity of style with innate, effortless sophistication. As a follow up to 2007's acclaimed debut album, the perfectly titled O My Darling, Bulat's newly released Heart of My Own again charts a path positioned between smart, modern indie pop and classic folk/pop traditions. Often clutching an autoharp in concert, encouraging audience handclaps and singalongs (sometimes joining her onstage) Bulat isn't as fearless as she is simply, unpretentiously committed to her craft. Boisterous choruses soar, feet stomp and her rhythms sway and then gallop as she moves easily from mood to mood, a spirited burner followed by a sweet and tender ballad.

First single "Gold Rush" epitomizes what we've come to love about Bulat's special talent for making music that seems to spontaneously tumble from the speakers while still sounding so focused and assured. In just under three minutes, "Gold Rush" is indeed a rush, fusing influences that range from the fiddling flurries of rural Appalachia to busking Celtic folk melodies to breakneck pop a la Arcade Fire. Produced again by Howard Bilerman and glowing internally with a self-generated source of energy, Heart's eclectic punch promises to be a sweet and swooning knockout.  “I think it is at times extremely sparse and, well, spacious, with big choirs singing,” Bulat says, “and then it gets really dense with really spirited and rolling drums.” Recommended.

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Basia Bulat - "Go On" (from the album Heart of My Own)

Basia Bulat - "Gold Rush"  (from the album Heart of My Own)

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From Allison Moorer's new album Crows (due February 9 via Rykodisc), "Sorrow (Don't Come Around)" is a magnificent ballad written by Moorer just after she found out that she was pregnant -- and seven months after an earlier miscarriage. Performed with just a piano backing during a NY Times interview with critic Ben Sisario, the song, we think, has an even greater immediacy and emotional power with just the intimate production. This was also, she says, the final song written for the album. Listen to the complete podcast interview here. More DC on Crows here.

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Allison Moorer - "Sorrow (Don't Come Around)" (live version from the album Crows)

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Australian singer/songwriter Sally Seltmann shares more with Leslie Feist that just co-writing credits on Feist's hit (and iPod commercial sensation) "1-2-3-4". Along with claiming the same recording label (Canada's Arts and Crafts), both have that particularly ingenious skill that entails concocting intelligent, hook-riddled pop songs that manage to skirt any detrimental semblance of mainstream pap -- something that has given them (along with the likes of Beth Orton or Regina Spektor) both indie cred and, in Feist's case, commercial success. After two fine albums under her original moniker New Buffalo, Seltmann has claimed her own name -- and a bid for a major breakthrough -- on her forthcoming April 6 album Heart That's Pounding.

In a subtle shift from her '07 album Somewhere, Anywhere, these eleven tracks offer Seltmann's keyboard-based songs and lovely, unaffected vocals with a more opulent production. By turns whimsical ("5 Stars", "Dream About Changin", "Sentimental Seeker"), intimately confessional ("I Tossed A Coin") or gloriously anthemic (lead single "Harmony To My Heartbeat"), Heart beats with an ambitious and unabashedly sunny charm. Even black-clad, angst-ridden hipsters may come under the spell. We sure have. Highly recommended. Watch the video for "Harmony To My Heartbeat" after the jump...

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Sally Seltmann - "Harmony To My Heartbeat" (from the album Heart That's Pounding)

Sally Seltmann - "Heart That's Pounding" (from the album Heart That's Pounding)

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With their self-titled debut album three years ago, singer/songwriter Inara George and multi-instrumentalist/producer Greg Kurstin -- aka The Bird and the Bee -- forged a tantalizing hybrid of fizzy electronica and smart, tongue-in-cheek art-pop. The sound was sleek, the attitude playful, the songs rich with lyrical wit and hummable hooks. But is this in the neverland of "too pop for the indie intelligentsia" and "too eclectic for the masses"? We certainly hope not -- and the beguiling new project Guiltless Pleasures Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates, arriving March 23 via Blue Note, just might be the ticket. If anyone knows the challenge of straddling critical credibility and pop success, isn't it Hall and Oates?

The spark for the project came after the duo began including the H+O standard "I Can't Go For That" into their live show. Why not a album's worth of classics? Guiltless Pleasures I kicks off with one lone, perfectly nuanced original -- "Heard It On the Radio" -- before George and Kurstin delve into the H+O catalog with glee, bringing a glossy, bubbly kick to eight indelible songs such as "I Can't Go For That", "Rich Girl", "Sara Smile" and "She's Gone". Sure we see a tongue-in-cheek wink here and there in the performances but this is obviously a labor of love. "There’s definitely no irony," says Kurstin matter of factly. "They’re great songwriters and these are great songs." Recommended.

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The Bird and the Bee - "She's Gone" (from the album Guiltless Pleasures Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates)

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Photos: Autumn De Wilde

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Tonight -- February 4 -- marks the debut of Three Girls and Their Buddy on PBS' Soundstage. Recorded as a "singers in the round" format, Shawn Colvin, Emmylou Harris and Patty Griffin trade songs, chat a bit and then join in the harmonies backed by famed guitarist Buddy Miller. The 12-song concert -- which we're hoping (and guessing) will show up as the full 21-song performance on DVD at some point -- includes Shawn Colvin's "Hold On" and "Polaroids", Patty Griffin's "Heavenly Day" and "Love Throws A Line", Buddy Miller's "Poison Love" and Harris' "Black Hawk" and "Love and Happiness". Check out the complete set list and songs that made the cut for the broadcast after the jump. Get a preview with a video of "Love and Happiness" here. Find out the broadcast date and time in your area here.

Three Girls and Their Buddy - "Love and Happiness" (featuring Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin)

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Icelandic singer/multi-instrumentalist Sindri Már Sigfússon is at the creative core of Seabear, a septet of musicians -- each with their own individual art and music projects -- who together fashion some of the more interesting and eclectic folk-based chamber/pop we've heard over the past few years. As the follow up to the 2007 debut Ghost That Carried Us Away, new album We Built A Fire, available March 2 in Europe, is a gorgeous if unassuming collection of songs that combine sweetly rendered pop melodies with finely crafted orchestrated backings.

There's a refined presence to songs such as "Cold Summer", a quiet stunner that takes Sigfússon's lighter-than-air vocal and wraps it in a warm blanket of delicate piano and lovely horn and string arrangements. The lo-fi intimacy that's at the heart of Seabear is also on display with "Lion Face Boy", another gem of gently mannered melody and sophisticated instrumental notation. Akin to a combination of Iceland compatriots Sigur Ros meeting up with Sufjan Stevens, Seabear shines as a nocturnal study of unhurried understatement. Highly recommended.

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Seabear - "Cold Summer" (from the album We Built A Fire)

Seabear - "Lion Face Boy" (from the album We Built A Fire)

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Taken from their forthcoming March 30 album Down The Way, new single "Black Crow" from Aussie neo-folkies Angus and Julia Stone comes from the Angus side of the duo's creative output and follows up Julia's equally wonderful "And The Boys." Both tracks signal a subtle shift from earlier folk stylings to a fuller, more dynamic "band" sound on the self-produced project -- and make us even more anxious to dive into the full album. And if you missed "Boys", watch the video after the jump. More DC on Down The Way here. "Black Crow" is at your favorite digital store February 16.

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Angus and Julia Stone - "Black Crow" (from the album Down The Way)

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"Free, melodic, funky, phat and rocking" is how John Butler describes April Uprising, the Aussie roots-rocker's first new studio album in three years arriving on these shores April 6 via new U.S. label home ATO. With new backing players on board -- drummer Nicky Bomba and bassist Byron Luiters -- The John Butler Trio remains a marvel of lanky, rough-and-ready interplay, intelligent music that still manages to land a powerful punch. Or as Butler says of lead single "One Way Road, "not too contrived or cerebral." Over the course of four albums in twelve years, Butler and band have burnished their reputation as a tour-de-force live where the trio's raw but tightly tuned songs can stretch out with the improvisational feel of a funky jam band-styled power trio.

"There’s definitely a certain attitude that comes across on the album," says Butler. "Perhaps there’s a conviction, in a song writing and production sense, that I haven’t tapped into so much on earlier works that seems to be more prevalent on April Uprising." A spin of new track "One Way Road" taps into what Butler describes as "pretty much most of my musical influences: dancehall, roots & rock" with a scorching slide guitar line leading into a relentless rhythm overdrive and lyrics that spill out wrapped in a flurry of island-tinged singing. Watch the "One Way Road video after the jump. A brief five city U.S. tour begins February 11.

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John Butler Trio - "One Way Road" (from the album April Uprising)

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We've always felt a little guilty about Meg Hutchinson's music. We probably should have been tugging on the sleeve of everyone we knew and telling them about what an incredible find each of her albums has been. But, with an artist like this, someone whose effortlessly beautiful songs can speak to the listener on a profoundly personal level, it's also tempting to just keep it to yourself. We were reminded of that fact today as we listened to Hutchinson's new album The Living Side, due February 9 via Red House, tempted to just close the door, turn the phone off, ignore the email and just, well, listen.

At 31 and with more than a decade's worth of touring and releases, Hutchinson will never be mistaken for some young "next big thing." But perhaps it is this adult perspective along with her undeniable skill as a songwriter that makes The Living Side so extraordinary. It is clear that on every level the Boston-based singer is performing at the top of her game: the melodies are subtle but rich, the airy voice tender but resilient, the lyrics knowing and provocative. And when Hutchinson sets the socio-political stage for pointed observations on the lost American Dream in the deceptively lovely "Hard To Change" or probes emotional will in the whispered intimacy of "Gatekeeper" you know you're in the presence of something truly special. Highly recommended.

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Meg Hutchinson - "Gatekeeper" (from the album The Living Side)

Meg Hutchinson - "Hard To Change" (from the album The Living Side)

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An odd turn of events for U.K. indie shoe-gaze popsters Engineers. First, the band finds out that the song "Home" from their eponymous 2005 debut album is selected as the new theme song for the HBO's fine "Big Love" series. Then, just today, creative lead Mark Peters announces today that he and Simon Phipps will carry with the Engineers minus two supporting band members (don't ask why there are only three faces featured in the band's press shots). We won't even get into why their 2009 album Three Fact Fader still has no U.S. label or physical distribution (does that even matter any more?).

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Engineers - "Home" (from "Big Love" and Engineers)

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Shelby Lynne will follow up her superb 2007 Dusty Springfield tribute disc Just A Little Lovin' with a self-produced new project Tears, Lies, And Alibis due April 20 on her own newly founded independent label. "I've made records for 20 years and never been more excited," says Lynne. "I finally have the creative control I've needed to get my vision out there." The new project is said to have relatively stripped down sound and some old school elements from a studio band that includes members of the famed Muscle Shoals Swampers: David Hood and Spooner Oldham. New songs include lead single "The Rains Came" as well as "Like A Fool", a song that premiered on the TV show "Army Wives."

Legendary guitarist Jeff Beck returns with his first studio CD in seven years on April 13: Emotion & Commotion. In typical Beck-ian style, the album is all over the place stylistically including tracks recorded with a 64-piece orchestra on some instrumental classics ("Over the Rainbow", Jeff Buckley's "Corpus Christi Carol", Puccini's operatic "Nessa Dorma". Joss Stone guests on a pair of songs including the blues classic "I Put A Spell On You" while rising neo-rockabilly singer Imelda May tackles "Lilac Wine." Beck will tour the U.S. this spring after a worldwide sprint and the highly anticipated double bill with Eric Clapton at Madison Square Garden in NY February 18 and 19.

The ever wonderful < Patty Larkin celebrates 25 years of making albums with the release March 9 of 25, an impressive collection of 25 Larkin love songs featuring (you guessed it) 25 guest artists. Among those on the impressive guest list: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, Rosanne Cash, Bruce Cockburn, Jonatha Brooke, Greg Brown, Janis Ian and Suzanne Vega. Complete listing here. More on 25 soon as we get some advance music...

 On June 29, Capitol will mark a pair of John Lennon release anniversaries -- 30th for Double Fantasy, 40th for Plastic Ono Band -- with special "anniversary editions" of each. Details to come.

DC favorite Tift Merritt > will release her new studio album See You on the Moon on May 25 via Fantasy. Produced by Tucker Martine (Laura Veirs, The Decemberists) and recorded in her home state of North Carolina, the new album is said to be less thematic than her excellent (and semi-auto-biographical) Another Country with Merritt remarking that "the story is more in the music this time."

Recent Grammy winner for Best New Artist, country rockers Zac Brown Band will release a 2-CD/DVD Live From The Fox Theater in April.

We're intrigued with the concept behind Women and Country, the upcoming T-Bone Burnett-produced solo album from < Jakob Dylan arriving April 5. The former Wallflower frontman asked Neko Case and her bandmember Kelly Hogan to add their vocals to eight of the project's eleven songs for what is said to be some pretty amazing harmonies. "Neko’s a huge character," Dylan remarked to Billboard. "She and Kelly add a huge personality to the record." Women is Dylan's first album since 2008's Seeing Things solo debut. Look for all three to tour together this summer.

Long-running roots rockers The BoDeans will release a new CD, “Mr. Sad Clown,” on April 6 via new label home 429. New studio album from Little Big Town penciled in for an August 24 street from Capitol Nashville. A 3-CD expanded version of The Cure's Disintegration arrives April 6 marking the release's 20th anniversary.

Enduring a devastating fire that claimed his home and all of his recording masters, turning forty and witnessing the birth of his first child, SoCal in-demand songwriter and producer Butch Walker has pretty much had his share of life-changing events in the past couple of years. So when it came to laying down tracks for his new February 23 album I Liked You Better When You Had No Heart, Walker decided to keep things simple and direct. Feeling his creative batteries charged touring with his backing band The Black Widows, he decided to keep things rolling. "We literally went into the studio the day after our tour ended," says Walker. "So the wheels were greased."

New project keeps the odd musical dichotomy at the heart of Walker's music gloriously intact: an intriguing genre mashup that touches 70's glam rock and English pop of ELO to T-Rex as well as the sweet twang and dusty kick of honest, roadhouse alt-country music by artists such as Kris Kristofferson and Gram Parsons. Alongside writing partner Michael Trent, Walker crafts songs that have that timeless quality that spans generations of influences and styles, a specialty that has placed him as a go-to songwriting clutch hitter in collaborations with artists as diverse as Pink, Avril Lavigne, Weezer, Pete Yorn and Fall Out Boy. Update: Walker's version of Taylor Swift's "You Belong To Me" has become a viral sensation (and Grammy performance standout with Stevie Nicks) and will be available as a free download with the purchase of the new album. Video after the jump. Recommended.

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Butch Walker - "Trash Day" (from I Like It Better When You Had No Heart)

Butch Walker - "You Belong With Me" (Taylor Swift cover)

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Boston based new-traditionalist "string band" Joy Kills Sorrow bridges contemporary folk with a diverse pallet of music influences on their sophomore February 23 album Darkness Sure Becomes This City (Signature Sounds). Since their critically acclaimed debut in 2007, the "Yankee" Americana quintet has gone through some personnel changes, most notably the addition of Canadian folkie Emma Beaton as lead vocalist following the departure of promising solo artist Heather Masse. What hasn't changed is the quality of Joy Kills Sorrow's acoustic Americana music. A fascinating hybrid of bluegrass, folk and a touch of Celtic, Darkness boasts exceptional playing, memorable songs and an attitude bent on mixing things up in unexpected ways.

Guitar, mandolin, banjo and double bass form the instrumental foundation for songs such as the sweetly turned out "You Will Change Me" and delicately layered "Kill My Sorrow", proof that a percussionless outfit such as this can still make things move rhythmically. Minus the southern twang that often accompanies this style of music and with Joy Kills Sorrow's embrace of modern folk song structures, the new project plays out almost like a modern, soft-spoken indie pop band playing traditional bluegrass instruments instead of plugging in. In many respects, you don't get much more "alternative" than this. Recommended.

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Joy Kills Sorrow - "Kill My Sorrow" (from the album Darkness Sure Becomes This City)

Joy Kills Sorrow - "Books" (from the album Darkness Sure Becomes This City)

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New York-based singer/songwriter Diane Birch may only be in her mid-twenties, but there's an "old soul" quality to her debut album Bible Belt, a soulful, playful touch that's more Laura Nyro, Elton John and Carole King than any number of the young, contemporary piano-women baring their tortured, Tori Amos-stoked souls. Fortunately, Birch's old-school influences are simply touchstones for her own prodigious talent. Critics have been falling over themselves with "time machine" comparisons and yes, the organic Bible Belt really does sound like it could have been recorded in the 70's. But to restrict Birch to moth ball Tapestry revivalist is to miss the point. At the core of Birch's success is the ability to write great songs and perform them with inherent soul, intelligence and passion. That stuff, needless to say, never goes out of style.

Bouncy new single "Valentino" is shuffling, syncopated slice of pure singalong pop bliss, Birch's piano chords playing off a New Orleans beat with her fluttering sandpaper vocals adding a flirtatious wink. Included on the soundtrack to the forthcoming Valentines Day, "Valentino" just might get the attention it deserves. We're also particularly fond of "Magic View", a gorgeous, string-backed ballad that is blessed with a melody that makes you think you've discovered some amazing lost song from some past parallel universe. Enthralling with a small "e", Birch make Bible Belt sound deceptively easy with an astonishing range of both songwriting finesse and charismatic panache. If you haven't discovered it yet -- do so...now. Videos after the jump...

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Diane Birch - "Valentino" (from the album Bible Belt)

Diane Birch - "Magic View" (from the album Bible Belt)

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Veteran singer/songwriter John Hiatt has been a distinctive catalyst for roots-driven, uniquely American music in a career spanning more than 35 years. With sharply pointed, poetic lyricism and a penchant for a sound that spans guitar-blazing southern swamp rock, country-shaded acoustic ballads and mournful, tear-in-your-beer roadhouse waltzes, Hiatt's eighteen solo albums have also been blessed with exceptional players including Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and longtime backing guitarist Sonny Landreth. His songs "Have A Little Faith In Me" and "Riding With the King" are just two songs that have become modern standards while his seminal 1987 breakthrough album Bring The Family (featuring Cooder and Lowe) we consider one of the finest albums of the era.

Hiatt shifts gears a bit on his new March 2 album The Open Road, a collection of songs that celebrate life on the road and, true to the title, finds him rolling the windows down and cruising with a surprisingly potent kick and a don't-look-back attitude. Self-produced and recorded in his home studio with his touring band (Kenny Blevins on drums, Patrick O'Hearn on bass and Doug Lancio on guitars), The Open Road's eleven new songs have a basic, no-nonsense appeal and, like all of Hiatt's classic albums, a minimum of pretense and a maximum of sly, lyrical edge. The band hums along like a finely tuned engine on the titled track with an oversized backbeat wallop and ragged guitar riffs setting the stage for Hiatt's gruff, seasoned drawl. Recommended.

John Hiatt - "The Open Road" (from the album The Open Road)

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Taking a breather from her long-running Scottish pop/rock band Texas, frontwoman and founder Sharleen Spiteri released her fine solo debut Melody in 2008, a very retro collection of 60's-styled original songs co-produced by Bernard Butler (Duffy) that went on to sell more than 300k copies worldwide (and without a U.S. release). When it came time to think about another Texas album, though, Spiteri realized she wasn't quite ready to go back just yet. In what she describes as a "happy accident", she decided that the chance to do a diverse album of classic movie cover songs -- and recording in L.A. with legendary producer Phil Ramone --  was just too tempting. The result is The Movie Songbook, arriving March 1 in the U.K. (again no U.S. release).

Not surprisingly, Spiteri's choice of material -- and styles -- is wide-ranging, from a pair of pop fluff anthems "Xanadu" and the Bee-Gees' "If I Can't Have You" to the more interesting choices: Tom Wait's "This One's From the Heart", the David Bowie co-write "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)", Elliot Smith's "Between the Bars" (from Good Will Hunting) and the Billie Holiday standard "God Bless The Child". On the lead single, a folksy version of the Berlin hit "Take My Breath Away" (from Top Gun), Spiteri finds the sweet spot between expectation -- it is, of course, a well known hit -- and her own special take. Watch a live performance (and see the full track listing) after the jump...

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Shaleen Spiteri - "Take My Breath Away" and "Xanadu" (excerpts from the album The Movie Songbook)

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As easy as it is to acknowledge U.K. trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack as one of the leading influences in contemporary music over the last 20 years, it's equally as easy to imagine that Heligoland, arriving February 9 from Grant 'Daddy G’ Marshall and Robert '3D’ Del Naja, would never have been made. Rancor and disharmony over musical direction have plagued Massive Attack throughout their career and it has, after all, been seven years since 2003's "100 Windows", a well-received project that nonetheless led Marshall and Del Naja to pretty much call it quits. "Luckily, we came through it," reflects Marshall, "because it turned out that the bond was stronger than that moment in time."

Even more than usual, inspired collaborations are a critical M.A. component on Heligoland. Elbow frontman Guy Garvey, amazing singer Martina Topley-Bird, Blur's Damon Albarn, veteran vocalist Horace Andy, Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval and Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley all guest and the results are remarkably diverse and definitively accomplished. There's simply nothing else quite like the sound of the darkly erotic "Paradise Circus", where Sandoval's seductive vocals straddle an ascending keyboard riff, a percussive bed of beats and handclaps and finally a slinky dub bass line.  Or the disorienting layers of blips and bleeps behind Garvey's rambling, off-beat (literally) vocals on "The Flat of the Blade", an adventurous track that finds the delicate tightrope balance between dangling melody and gorgeously messy electronic rhythms. Brilliant, challenging and ultimately redemptive, Heligoland is a magnificent return to form. Highly recommended.

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Massive Attack - "Paradise Circus" (featuring Hope Sandoval) (from Heligoland)

Massive Attack - "Pray for Rain" (featuring Tunde Adebimpe) (from Heligoland)

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