With Closer Than Together, the Avett Brothers step into the "political song" arena, while not abandoning more familiar ground, all with mixed results. On this album as all the rest, though listeners certainly catch glimpses of their influences — whether that's Bob Dylan or the Clash — the Avett Brothers' melodies, harmonies, and arrangements are unlike any other band's.

Whether paradoxes or purgatory, liminal states of existence make people uneasy. Most folks like their status quo binary world of black or white, not black and white or, for heaven's sake, GREY. Well, with Karaoke Angel, Molly Sarlé has created the perfect soundtrack for a grey, circular, both/and world. Brimming with timeless music backing timely messages, Karaoke Angel manages to be high brow and lo-fi, plain and poetic, uncomfortable and comforting all at once. Just like real life — the one not pictured on Instagram — these songs are complex rather than clean.

When Michaela Anne weaves tangled webs with the songs of Desert Dove, she's not reinventing any musical wheels. She is, instead, carrying on a long-standing tradition that goes back to Patty Loveless and Shania Twain, in the more recent past, as well as Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, in the more distant. The difference with Desert Dove is that Michaela stretches her sonic wings to fly outside the bounds of country and into more Americana terrain.

Singer/songwriter Andrew Combs, now a father and long a questioner of all things spiritual, uses his new album, Ideal Man, to double down on that pursuit, perhaps hoping to figure some things out to pass on to his daughter.

After last year's full-band effort with All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn’t Do, The Milk Carton Kids return to their roots with a new seven-song EP, The Only Ones, that recaptures their intimate, duo magic but also stretches in a new direction.

With 14 tracks to choose from, Home has something for everyone and feels like Billy Strings has found his place. It's an impressive effort, to be sure, from the wunderkind from Michigan who says he learned how to play from bluegrass, but learned how to perform from heavy metal.

With Humbird's debut full-length, Pharmakon, singer/songwriter Siri Undlin has woven an intricate tapestry of ideas. Even the title is a Plato-defined philosophical theory dripping with complexity, meaning that something can be a remedy, poison, or a scapegoat, depending on the circumstance.

Singer/songwriter Pieta Brown has done so before, and does so again with Freeway, crafting a sonic environment that utterly envelops the listener in the best possible way.

Taken all together, 'Who Are You Now' is a wondrous tapestry, each block telling one part of the whole story that is this remarkable young artist's life. With so many years ahead of her, Madison Cunningham is going to be exciting to watch push boundaries, hers and others'.

Dori Freeman has teamed up with producer Teddy Thompson once again for a remarkable album of toe-tapping, classic-style country songs. Every Single Star is a beautiful album from one of the finest singer-songwriters outside of Nashville’s gravitational pull.