New releases: April 17, 2007

Leading the pack this week, at least in terms of interesting-ness, is the latest passenger on the mainstream-to-"roots" bandwagon.

Pam Tillis is trying on the "roots" hat, and she might be for real. Like fellow 1990s pop country queen Patty Loveless before her, Tillis is playing Merlefest, and also like Loveless she tapped new producers and pulled from a different well to form the songs on her new, radio-be-damned album. Tillis spent years choosing and distilling songs for "Rhinestoned," and she claims to have done so without any thought of radio play. Just to add that last bit of street cred, she released the album on her own Stellar Cat label.

Ultimately, the music will have to speak for itself.

New releases of note for the week of April 17:

Pam Tillis -- Rhinestoned (Stellar Cat)
Cowboy Junkies -- At the End of Paths Taken (Zoe)
Curly Seckler -- Bluegrass, Don't You Know (Copper Creek)
Guy Clark -- Live from Austin, TX (New West)
The Nields -- All Together Singing in the Kitchen (Nields)
Joseph Arthur -- Let's Just Be (Lonely Astronaut)
Ben Godwin -- Skin and Bone (antifolk)