CD of the Week: Continued Excellence From Truckers

With the "Wig he Made Her Wear" from last year's The Big To-Do, Patterson Hood started a streak of Southern murder dramas, which he continues on the title track and "The Fireplace Poker" from WTMD's CD of the Week, Drive-By Trucker's Go-Go Boots. 

This time, Hood, who reportedly may be writing a movie on Southern crime syndicates, flips the true plot of an allegedly abusive preacher who met his untimely end at the hands of his humiliated wife. He's matter-of-fact yet empathetic to his female victims.

A real feminine touch comes courtesy of bassist Shonna Tucker's lone original, "Dancin' Ricky," which declares to her dancing fool antihero, "Don't let the diabetes get you!" But, don't miss "Where's Eddie," Tucker's stunning cover of underappreciated Muscle Shoals session guitarist and songwriter Eddie Hinton (who wrote Dusty Springfield's  "Breakfast in Bed"), one of two on the record.

Mike Cooley's warm, familiar baritone twang appears on the made-for-Cash "The Weakest Man" while a dobro and banjo make his plucky "Cartoon Gold" ripe for Avett Brothers fans.

Drive-By Truckers songs play more like vignettes than muscular country-flavored rock songs, though they still can flex a-plenty live.

Check out the talents of this uniquely American band all week long on WTMD.

CD of the Week: Devotchka's East Meets Southwest

The score work on "Little Miss Sunshine" first got people turned onto the exotic, Balkan folk-rock of Denver's Devotchka.

On WTMD's new CD of the Week, 100 Lovers, lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Nick Urata (whose becoming quite the film composer) romantically croons over strings and brass made in the Arizona desert with producer Craig Schumacher (Calexico, Neko Case).

It's worldly music for movies, yet just as rooted in American imagery;  "Sunshine" sounds like an add-on to the dramatic sunset ending of U2's "All I Want is You."

Listen all week long and be swooned.

CD of the Week: Breakups Galore on Atkins Amore

Nicole Atkins split from her boyfriend, her label and her backing band.  You might expect her new album could be a one-sided, venomous revenge album.

Instead, with her new band, The Black Sea, Atkins sketches out relationship endings from multiple points of blame, including herself.  Mondo Amore is WTMD's new CD of the Week. All these changes for Nicole really pay off.

Displaying those dramatic pipes, Atkins gets raw and rocking  with the reverb-soaked and string-heavy "Vultures." A  Zeppelin-like shuffle compliments Atkins bluesy delivery on "You Come to Me," a Delta-blues harp riff spices up "My Baby Don't Lie" and Jim James adds a male counterpart to ballad, "War is Hell."  That last one might have a political tale to tell--give it a listen and decide.

CD of the Week: A Blessed Lucinda

The often broken hearted, yet always resiliant Lucinda Williams returns with Blessed, WTMD's CD of the Week.

And since getting married to her manager onstage in Minneapolis two years ago, the whiskey-voiced roots rocker seems to blissfully reflect the title of her new record.

The songs on Blessed are less autobiographical and more character-driven. On "Soldier's Song," she sings about a serviceman's battle overseas and his family's on the home front, while standout "Seeing Black" delves into the final dark thoughts of late Georgia songwriter Vic Chestnut and features a blazing guitar solo from Elvis Costello.

Listen all week long for all tracks from Blessed, WTMD's CD of the Week.

Lucinda is asking fans to upload videos on her website to share why they feel blessed. Here's one response:

CD of the Week: Intoxicating Iron and Wine

The clouds part and a heavenly chorus of winged Brian Wilsons float into your ears.

The fuzzed out sweet intensity of opening  track "Walking Far From Home" on WTMD's CD of the Week, Kiss Each Other Clean from Iron and Wine sets the tone for Sam Beam's expanded obsession with sonic experimentation that made his last album The Shepherd's Dog such a treat.

The second track, "Me & Lazarus" rolls along with a funky bass groove and a Kind of Blue-like sax, taking Beam's minimalist folk out for a late night crawl.

The other tracks combine out-of-tune whistles, female doo-woops, xylophones, electric pianos, and Beam's warm, multi-tracked voices for a warm, earthy 70's FM radio feel, a long way from Beam's  hushed, acoustic confessionals from those early Iron and Wine records.

Enjoy tracks from Kiss Each Other Clean all week on WTMD and catch Iron and Wine at Rams Head Live April 20th.

CD of the Week: Eulogies Mourn a Young Life With Joyful Music

In May of 2008, Eulogies frontman Peter Walker's son was born. But elation for the first time father was short lived when just a week later he learned his good friend , business partner and Dangerbird Records founder Jeff Castelaz would face an unspeakable battle: his young son Pablo had a rare and fatal form of cancer called bilateral Wilm's Tumor.

Walker stood by Pablo's bedside in 2009 when he took his last breath at the age of only six.

While WTMD's CD of the Week, Tear the Fences Down pays tribute to a brave soul and deals with loss and healing in general, the jubilant guitars, bass and drums and Butch Walker production casts a less somber tone than the name of the band would suggest .

In fact, the single "You Hide" is as catchy and as positive sounding as anything you'll hear this year, and even the closer, "Little Else to Say," with the line, "You're gone, but you live on," sounds joyful and celebrates a young life cut way too short.

Listen all week long to track from Eulogies, Tear the Fences Down, WTMD' S CD of the Week.