Cheryl Wheeler
Pointing at the Sun
(Dias)

More classic Cheryl Wheeler: novelty songs, wry commentary, and achingly beautiful reflections on love, longing and life. Cats are the foil for three silly songs, and the antidote for the feathers she ruffles with the title track's blanket condemnation of all religious orthodoxies. Wheeler slips slightly when she tries to do too much; "Summer Fly" comes off as Daniel Lanois Lite (it's better live). But Wheeler's at her absolute finest when she goes for the heart instead of the funny bone, head, or new musical turf. "Holding On" and "One Step at a Time" are stunning no-gilded-lily takes on making relationships work.The courage to lay out emotions as starkly as silhouetted trees makes Wheeler one of the gutsiest songwriters of our time. —Rob Weir

Angela Easterling
Blacktop Road
(De L'Est Music)

Angela Easterling's Blacktop Road is an exercise in the expected. From the first strums of acoustic guitar to the road-weary angst that fills the lyrics, easy choices abound. Easterling works solidly in the roots/Americana singer/songwriter world, and her middling tempos, splashes of mandolin and fiddle and comfortable melodies don't challenge any of the clich?s of that world. A happy surprise comes with the upbeat Western swing playfulness of "Stars Over the Prairie," a high point (written, interestingly enough, by Easterling's grandfather) after the low of a soulless cover of Neil Young's "Helpless." On the other hand, Easterling is a 2009 Kerrville New Folk Finalist. You can hear her July 2 at Firefly in Lenox. —James Heflin

Steve Martin
The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo
(Rounder)

The former wild and crazy guy's first full album of original banjo music is serious fun. As a comedian in the 1970s, Steve Martin once claimed, "You just can't play a sad song on the banjo," but he proves himself wrong here. Even the many rollicking finger workouts on the album have complex, distinct characters tinged with a lilting, sweet melancholia. The instrumentals, which dominate the album, are the most engaging. The fluid interplay between the career musicians and the one-time solo stand-up performer is a joy, and amongst the more sober compositions are a few "rambling guy" numbers which are certain to give you happy feet. —Mark Roessler

Ida Maria
Fortress 'Round My Heart
(Mercury)

Who better to lead an enthusiastic chorus on a four-chord rock song than a 25-year-old Norwegian girl who purportedly experiences the phenomenon of synesthesia (wherein one "sees" music as colors)? Ida Maria Borli Siversten sports a scratchy voice that's highly complimentary of the music she plays, much of which instantly reminds one of The Strokes' first album—energetic and jangly, with distorted major-seventh chords and straightforward beats—but with P.J. Harvey on vocals. It succeeds in artfully re-combining techno-sounding Euro-beats (played on real drums) with strummy, organic indie-rock guitars. There are also melodies that echo Leonard Cohen tunes and Martha and the Vandellas' "Jimmy Mack." —Tom Sturm