People Always Ask Me ...

People always ask me what great new music I've found, and I never have good answers for them, since I'm already looking for the next great thing. In case you're one of those people - and so I can have an easy place to keep track of them - here are some of my personal recent favorites. Not necessarily the best so far this year, just stuff I really, really love.

Miranda Lambert, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" - Hands-down, this year's best country album so far.

Richard Shindell, "South of Delia" - In a year full of covers albums, this is maybe my favorite, with remakes of Bruce Springsteen ("Born in the USA"), Peter Gabriel ("Mercy Street"), Woody Guthrie (Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos))" and the Carter Family ("The Storms Are on the Ocean," which just might be my favorite of all them). Richard Thompson plays guitar on three (I think) cuts. If you know me, trust me - this is a good one.

Derek Webb, "The Ringing Bell" - Starts off slow, but the last three-quarters of this includes some of the best "Revolver"-inspired power-pop I've heard in ages. Don't miss "A Savior on Capitol Hill," which sounds like the sort of thing John Lennon might've written if he'd ever made the equivalent of "Slow Train Coming."

Relient K, "Five Score and Seven Years Ago" - These guys just keep getting better and better. Highlights include the ultra-catchy "Must Have Done Something Right" and "Forgiven," as well as the 11-minute album closer "Deathbed," which I'll stack up against the Who's "A Quick One, While He's Away" any day of the week.

Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers, "Glassjaw Boxer" - It's always exciting to hear a band get it right, and this one does, from the piano intro of the very first song. My new band that I'm dying to see live.