Willie Nelson--To All the Girls...(Legacy): I used to joke that if you blink, Willie Nelson will have made another album, although he's probably been usurped of that distinction by Robert Pollard or his band Guided By Voices in recent years. But Willie--who turned 80 in April--still puts out a handful of good to great recordings a year, and imagine the surprise of hearing his duets album with female vocalists, To All the Girls... (Legacy). It's absolutely stunning in places, with a great give-and-take between the singers, fully realized arrangements, and Mr. Nelson himself, who sings with great care, as if we're back in the Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages era of the '70s. You get Rosanne Cash and Alison Krauss, too.
Trudy Lynn--Royal Oaks Blues Cafe (Connor Ray Music): Lynn's only fault is that she isn't prolific as far as getting into the studio. Royal Oaks Blues Cafe is an amazingly confident and accomplished blues record from the gal from Houston, with "Country Man Blues" leading the way. Great band, too, led by harmonicat Steve Krase.
Bob Dylan--Another Self-Portrait (1969-1971): The Bootleg Series, Vol. 10 (Columbia/Legacy): You might wonder how a revamped version of Dylan's most (at that point) universally damned album (1970's Self-Portrait) could be any good, but the latest in his bootleg series defies the criticism. The song choices are better (some of the takes, too), the production is less prissy, and there's the great stuff never before on record, ranging from compelling ("This Evening So Soon") to the silly (in a good way--like some sort of relief) "Working on a Guru."
Dana Fuchs--Bliss Avenue (Ruf): Fuchs is a riveting vocalist who has bored me in the past with her constant overreaching, and with Bliss Avenue, she gets everything right. It's more restrained and no less passionate than her previous work.
Sly & the Family Stone--Higher! (Epic/Legacy): Way, way up there on the list of the most brilliant bands of the '60s (and rarely recognized as such), Sly & the Family Stone's incredible four-disc box set states their case in startling fashion. Includes all sorts of rarities and mono mixes of their trail-blazing singles (a great idea, as other anthologies often include the stereo mixes with less wallop), plus key album tracks and first-rate sound. While their studio take of "Stand!" is missing, the live version (previously released on a various artists compilation that nobody purchased) makes up for it. Absolutely essential.
Willie May--Moon Chillun (Willie May Music): The fourteenth album from the rough and ready sounding bluesman from Buffalo, who adds enough country touches to keep it balanced. "Thirty Days" isn't the Chuck Berry classic but a fine original.
The Bipolaroids--Twin Language (Get Hip): Garage rock that would be better if Ben Glover's voice weren't so often droopy and off-key, it's still recommended for their balls out approach, which gets catchier every time it's played.
The Beatles--On Air--Live at the BBC, Volume 2 (Capitol/Apple): While the first installment of these 1962-1965 recordings (issued in 1994, after the bootleg industry pushed Capitol into it) was stronger--compare this version of "I Got a Woman" to the near-perfection on the first volume--Volume 2 isn't to be missed, either. We tend to forget how George could catch fire as a vocalist, as Carl Perkins' "Glad All Over" illustrates, and there's their abundant verve and humor throughout the whole double spectacle. Classic sentiment, not played live that often: "There's a Place."
Neo Boys--Sooner or Later (K): Neo Boys, the Portland, OR group of gals who blazed the way for independent groups of the late '80s and early '90s, communicated to the entire northwest that gals could do it too, leading to the Riot Grrrl movement. It's said that K and Calvin Johnson's determination to get this collection out took nearly a decade, and it is so appreciated.
The Sadies--Internal Sounds (Yep Roc): More of their entrancing, jangly Byrds-influenced rock and country, moody in the best sense of the word. You've got to wonder if this often spectacular band from Toronto hates coming up with song titles; the first song (five minutes in length) is titled "The First 5 Minutes."
Neil Young--Live at the Cellar Door (Reprise): Young keeps releasing vintage live performances from his personal vaults, and you'll like this one, from 1970. He had "Old Man" already written by this time, but the most fascinating track is "Cinnamon Girl," performed on the piano for the first time. Or maybe it's "Expecting to Fly" (again, on piano). I'm still waiting for the sometimes hilarious February 1971 live show at L.A.'s Dorothy Chandler Pavillion to make its way out of Neil's audio dungeons.
Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle (Nonesuch): While the original versions of these Kate & Anna McGarrigle classics are clearly better, this is a moving tribute to Kate, who died in 2010. Collecting performances from the tribute shows in London (2010), New York (2011) and Toronto (2012), there's quite a cast, including her children Rufus and Martha, plus Emmylou Harris, Linda Thompson (with Richard Thompson helping out), Teddy Thompson, Antony, Jenni Muldaur, Norah Jones, Jimmy Fallon (!) and more. Antony might be the only one who takes these often quirky songs to another level, and my other faves are by the band Broken Social Scene ("Mother Mother") and Chaim Tannenbaum's rousing "Travellin on for Jesus." The low point is Justin Vivian Bond's wooden take on "The Work Song," but the majority of performances are enjoyable, although second to Kate & Anna's own, sometimes sublime recordings.