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Ruthie Foster opens "Up Above My Head" with a minor-key electric-piano riff, conjuring up Marvin Gaye and the '70s pop-gospel hits of The Staple Singers. Then comes the 43-year-old Texan's warm, down-to-earth voice, with its undercurrent of wistfulness shining through.

Singer Kele Okereke watches as society begins viewing him with suspicion in "Where Is Home?" Any instrument that's not a drum kit or a voice is almost beside the point: During the verses, guitars and keyboards hang around for atmosphere when they can be bothered to show up at all.

An acolyte of the Todd Rundgren school of lone-wolf power-pop, Richard X. Heyman has gone it mostly alone for two decades now. Often playing nearly every instrument on his records, he's produced a slim but sturdy catalogue of superior pop music.

Virtually every track on Feist's The Reminder hits its mark. That's especially true when she's crafting gloriously propulsive, mid-tempo mini-anthems like "I Feel It All," a song that seems to explode out of at least three different musical eras at once.

With a career that spans over four decades and 50 recordings, John Abercrombie is an established master of the jazz guitar. He says his new CD, The Third Quartet has the sound of 20th century classical music.

After 20 years and 11 albums, the Cowboy Junkies are looking inward. Their latest album focuses on the big events in their lives over the years — marriage, settling down and starting families of their own.

Writing "N.Y. Doll" from the perspective of a late New York Dolls bassist, Robyn Hitchcock opts not to copy the Dolls' pre-punk strut and roar. Instead, he sticks to what he knows, slowly stretching the guitar jangle until it ripples and pulses with the hum of psychedelia.

Much of Peder's music sounds like the eccentric score for an independent movie: On "Would You," the flat, plucked-out notes and ghostly piano sound like they await a Tom Waits vocal. Instead, Nino Moschella surfaces, his vocals bringing the longing in Peder's music out of the abstract.

Ola Podrida's lazily majestic "Jordanna" builds slowly, as bandleader David Wingo carefully engineers the placement of each individual element. People and scenes float in and out of focus, lending the song the feel of a scrapbook.

A new collection from Smithsonian Folkways brings together performances by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly and other artists. The simple theme: money — fortunes made, fortunes lost and fortunes desired.