LOVE IT - Blitzen Trapper, American Goldwing.

If you were to gift your friend with a mix CD full of legendary 60s/70s country-rock (something akin to The Very Best of Eagles-meets-Lords of Dogtown soundtrack), and you happened to slip in a little Blitzen Trapper, your friend would jam along never knowing the difference.

"American Goldwing is us letting our loves and early influences hang out for all to see. We entered into the sounds we grew up with - the hard guitar rock and country picking of our younger years mixed with glimmers of our usual space-aging technology and pawn shop Casios," explained vocalist Mark Earley recently. So, although I'm not obsessed with any of these songs like I am their older tune "Furr," this new batch of Americana has been an excellent addition to my playlists.

LOVE IT - Brandi Carlile, Live at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony.

I love this woman's music. I love her melodies, I love her Melissa Etheridge-y pseudo-yodel when she gets into a song, and now I love the fact that she's captured the feeling of a concert performance with a symphony filling out her thumping rock-pop sound.

This is the best live album I've heard in a super long time. It opens with the tuning of the symphony, and highlights Carlile's breathtaking covers (John, Simon, Cohen) and beefed-up originals. The audience-participation harmonies on "Turpentine" tug at the heart strings; I can't imagine how cool it must have been to be in the theater at that moment. The energy and emotions projecting from the speakers for the disc's hour running length will linger with you long after you've finished listening.