Kelly Willis - Translated From Love; Free MP3 - "Sweet Little One"

Coming off a five-year hiatus (spent raising four children, so not much of a break), Kelly Willis returns with Translated From Love, a country record with influence of rock, punk (Willis covers Iggy Pop's "Success" on the album), and pop. Translated From Love is full of charm, spark, melancholy, bubble and honky-tonk.

The lead single, "Sweet Little One", is full of cross-over potential, as is the aforementioned Iggy Pop cover, which Willis re-interprets into a country rock dance cut full of electric piano and a meaty bass groove which is destined for jukeboxes everywhere.

Lyrically, Kelly Willis is years ahead of many of her peers in the country music circuit, and being a songwriter (as well as being married to one) puts her in a league of her own. The yearning "Too Much To Lose" should have a fair number of CMT favorites hanging their dusty-brimmed hats in shame.


Free MP3 Download: Kelly Willis - "Sweet Little One"

Shuyler Jansen - Today's Remains

Saskatoon (by way of Vancouver) is home to Shuyler Jansen. Jansen's second solo record is vocally reminiscent of Dwight Yoakam and musically influenced by country music from when it was really country, not CMT and civic center commercialized drivel.

Modestly clocking in at just over forty minutes, Today's Remains (Black Hen Music, 2007) opens with a jaunty dramatic ditty ("Pegasus") that introduces ten songs of tales tall and true. With sliding guitars, pedal steel ("Rivals") and dulcet strings (title track), Today's Remains continues Jansen's challenge to storytellers like Willie Nelson and songwriters like Tom Petty, stirring together genres to form a dusty and leathery country record that is unfortunately too clever and well-done to succeed on American country radio.

Key tracks: "Jealous Girl", "Pegasus", "Today's Remains", "Rivals"