Taking a breather from her long-running Scottish pop/rock band Texas, frontwoman and founder Sharleen Spiteri released her fine solo debut Melody in 2008, a very retro collection of 60's-styled original songs co-produced by Bernard Butler (Duffy) that went on to sell more than 300k copies worldwide (and without a U.S. release). When it came time to think about another Texas album, though, Spiteri realized she wasn't quite ready to go back just yet. In what she describes as a "happy accident", she decided that the chance to do a diverse album of classic movie cover songs -- and recording in L.A. with legendary producer Phil Ramone --  was just too tempting. The result is The Movie Songbook, arriving March 1 in the U.K. (again no U.S. release).

 Not surprisingly, Spiteri's choice of material -- and styles -- is wide-ranging, from a pair of pop fluff anthems "Xanadu" and the Bee-Gees' "If I Can't Have You" to the more interesting choices: Tom Wait's "This One's From the Heart", the David Bowie co-write "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)", Elliot Smith's "Between the Bars" (from Good Will Hunting) and the Billie Holiday standard "God Bless The Child". On the lead single, a folksy version of the Berlin hit "Take My Breath Away" (from Top Gun), Spiteri finds the sweet spot between expectation -- it is, of course, a well known hit -- and her own special take. Watch a live performance (and see the full track listing) after the jump...

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Shaleen Spiteri - "Take My Breath Away" and "Xanadu" (excerpts from the album The Movie Songbook)

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Veteran singer/songwriter John Hiatt has been a distinctive catalyst for roots-driven, uniquely American music in a career spanning more than 35 years. With sharply pointed, poetic lyricism and a penchant for a sound that spans guitar-blazing southern swamp rock, country-shaded acoustic ballads and mournful, tear-in-your-beer roadhouse waltzes, Hiatt's eighteen solo albums have also been blessed with exceptional players including Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and longtime backing guitarist Sonny Landreth. His songs "Have A Little Faith In Me" and "Riding With the King" are just two songs that have become modern standards while his seminal 1987 breakthrough album Bring The Family (featuring Cooder and Lowe) we consider one of the finest albums of the era.

Hiatt shifts gears a bit on his new March 2 album The Open Road, a collection of songs that celebrate life on the road and, true to the title, finds him rolling the windows down and cruising with a surprisingly potent kick and a don't-look-back attitude. Self-produced and recorded in his home studio with his touring band (Kenny Blevins on drums, Patrick O'Hearn on bass and Doug Lancio on guitars), The Open Road's eleven new songs have a basic, no-nonsense appeal and, like all of Hiatt's classic albums, a minimum of pretense and a maximum of sly, lyrical edge. The band hums along like a finely tuned engine on the titled track with an oversized backbeat wallop and ragged guitar riffs setting the stage for Hiatt's gruff, seasoned drawl. Recommended.

John Hiatt - "The Open Road" (from the album The Open Road)

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For those not lucky enough to attend last October's wonderful Rounder Records' 40th Anniversary Concert at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, fear not. As we tipped you weeks ago, a special PBS special combining video shot at that event with other special live footage (from shows by Steve Martin, Alison Krauss/Robert Plant and Madeleine Peyroux) has been in the works over the last couple of months and will be ready for broadcast during the PBS pledge month of March. In addition, a companion 17-track CD of the live performances (some exclusive to the disc) will be available March 2. The DVD will be released exclusively via PBS. A full track listing for the 40th Anniversary Concert CD follows after the jump.

 Among those performing at the Nashville show: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bela Fleck, New Orleans soul great Irma Thomas, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas, Fat City pianist Henry Butler and actress Minnie Driver who hosted the show and performed as well. Of all those on stage, it was probably Carpenter that received the most heartfelt response, making her first appearance in years after some recent health concerns sidelined her from touring. A new Carpenter album Age of Miracles, featuring guest appearances from both Krauss and Vince Gill, arrives April 27. 

Alison Krauss and Union Station - "Gravity" (From the album Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert)

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You can forgive Rogue Wave's Zach Rogue and Pat Spurgeon for wanting to record an album that Rogue describes as "for lack of a better term, fun". Between Rogue suffering a debilitating slipped disc and Spurgeon's terrible struggle with kidney failure, it was time -- after some medical down time -- to change directions even if it meant shaking up (literally) the Oakland band's original sound. "When I started writing I wanted to make a record that was a little more up," Rogue says, "a record you could move your body to because I couldn't move for so long". The result -- Permalight, arriving March 2 via Jack Johnson's Brushfire label --  is a surprisingly uptempo, groove-laden album that intersects the intricate, indie-rock melodies Rogue Wave is known for with a new glittering, funky and synth-driven propulsion. It is, writes Rogue, "a more visceral kind of album...so make sure you're wearing some good shoes."

Produced by Dennis Herring (Modest Mouse), Permalight's dozen meticulously crafted tracks plumb the creative depths of Rogue's revamped musical moods. Kicked off by lead single "Good Morning", a brittle new-wavish rocker with a relentless 4/4 kick, the music skitters and twists with abandon, guitars and keys colliding with glossy beats. And even though the album is a self-described "total dance album", there's still time for a straight-ahead alt-rocker ("Per Anger") and a thoughtful acoustic meditation ("I'll Never Leave You") -- just to keep things unpredictable. Recommended.

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Rogue Wave - "Good Morning" (from the album Permalight)

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Described as "a very personal record", Peter Gabriel's forthcoming March 2 album Scratch My Back (Real World) features just the former Genesis frontman's distinctive voice and some gorgeous, orchestrated arrangements in his interpretation of a dozen covers from the likes of Radiohead ("Street Spirit (Fadout)"), Regina Spektor ("Apres Moi"), David Bowie ("Heroes") and Paul Simon ("The Boy In the Bubble"). At first listen, it's a bit disconcerting to hear these songs with just Gabriel's voice over a sumptuous bed of strings or with simple piano chords but it works because of the quality of the songs and the fact that they're presented in such a dramatically different way...it really is like hearing them for the first time. One of the best is "Heroes", with Gabriel's interpretation bringing out every possible nuance in the lyrics and now-familiar melody. Bon Iver's "Flume" becomes a beautiful lament captured in slow motion, each word sung a textured brush stroke.

"The songs are not simply covers," composer/arranger John Metcalfe told the BBC. "They are major reinterpretations of some famous stuff. It's quite radical." There's speculation that a follow up album - I'll Scratch Yours - will be coming later with these same artists doing songs from the Peter Gabriel songbook. Famed producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd's The Wall, Lou Reed) was behind the board for Scratch My Back with engineer Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, Sheryl Crow.) Check out the final track listing after the jump. U.K. release: February 16.

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Peter Gabriel - "Flume" (by Bon Iver) (from the album Scratch My Back)

Peter Gabriel - "The Book of Love" (The Magnetic Fields cover from the album Scratch My Back)

As always, our streams are for sampling purposes only. Please support the artist and BUY the music!

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Stating that "everything's gone up a notch" since his last release, pint-sized piano banger and jazz singer Jamie Cullum makes his long awaited return with The Pursuit, a new studio album finally arriving stateside March 2, 2010 via Verve after a fall '09 release internationally. The high-energy singer/pianist is considered to be the U.K.'s most successful jazz export ever with sales of over four million for his 2003 breakout album Twentysomething and 2006's Catching Tales. Part of Cullum's appeal is his ability to tackle diverse contemporary songs, from Radiohead's "High and Dry" to Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music" (covered on The Pursuit -- see video after the jump) to Jimi Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary", along with the expected jazz vocal classics like "I Get a Kick Out of You."

The new project continues Cullum's freewheeling approach, encompassing reworked standards as well as original songs that tap into rock, R+B and even a dose of funk. New songs include "I Think I Love", "Mixtape" and first single "I'm All Over It" along with a his own distinctive take on the classic "If I Ruled The World." Says Jamie, "I find that when I take a standard...what I do is take half the chords out. To simplify it. To reduce it down to six chords." Another new composition is "Love Ain't Gonna Let You Down", a track written for new bride and model Sophie Dahl. It is, he says, "the first love song I've ever written without a joke in it. I wonder why." Recommended.

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Jamie Cullum - Album preview sampler of The Pursuit

Jamie Cullum - "I'm All Over It" (from the album The Pursuit)

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Following up her brash and brilliant Watch The Fireworks '07 solo debut, former Delgados principle Emma Pollock returns with a new March 2 album that may raise the bar even further. While some albums can't seem to find a creative center due to a lack of ideas or musicality, The Law of Large Numbers' own breathless stylistic careening is a joy to behold.  Fireworks had a generous share of intelligent, spangled delights, but the complex and compelling Law lays down an even bolder, more urgent ante. "It should be about not tying up loose ends, not controlling everything and leaving room for a more immediate response," observes Pollock. "If the idea's good then it should hopefully produce a great result."

This time around any traces of a smooth art-pop veneer and moody elegance on Pollock's songs are, for the most part, pulled taut and replaced with a more brooding angular edge. Even the quieter moments have a palpable tension. On the galloping lead track "Hug the Harbour", guitars churn, drums tumble and crash and Pollock's voice has a demanding, knowing assurance as the melody twists and turns from one major mood change to another, over too soon. We love big albums with big ideas and an even bigger sense of adventure -- and The Law of Large Numbers promises to be one of those albums. Highly recommended.

Emma Pollock - "Hug The Harbour" (from the album The Law of Large Numbers)

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Blurring the boundaries has always been easy for Clarence Greenwood, AKA Citizen Cope. Over the course of three albums (on as many record labels), the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter has always gone off the mainstream road to find his own musical path: acoustic blues shuffles, stinging rock riffs, singer/songwriter intimacy and gritty urban rhythms combined into a streetwise alloy of "urban folk". “The only way to explain my music," says Greenwood, "is to say you gotta listen to it." And many have. Sales for Cope have topped 400k in the U.S. alone and he remains a strong concert draw, here and internationally.

 New self-produced, self-released album The Rainwater LP (March 2), his first in nearly four years, wears its "LP" moniker with pride. “I wanted the record to have an LP feel,” he says.  “Vinyl can only have a certain amount of songs. It takes you on a journey and then when it’s done, you can go, ‘Cool.  Let me check that again.’” Lead track "Healing Hands" reaffirms Cope's distinctive style -- and his fascination with 70's icons and influences as disparate as Randy Newman and Stevie Wonder. Beginning as a folk ballad, his husky voice atop an acoustic guitar, "Hands" quickly evolves into a quiet but insistent funk groove, a modern Bill Withers-styled jam that rides a rock steady reggae-tinged backbeat. Recommended.

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Citizen Cope - "Healing Hands" (from the album The Rainwater LP)

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"I draw a lot from my surroundings and the Southern atmosphere and attitude," Benjy Davis observes about his music, a comment that becomes easy to understand when you delve into Lost Souls Like Us, the latest from the the Baton Rouge, LA troubadour arriving March 2 (Ridge Rock). Whether playing as a duo -- with longtime collaborator Mic Capdevielle -- or as an expanded full band, Benjy Davis Project is steeped in a distinctive musical gumbo of unpretentious, soulful rural Louisiana roots-rock and modern, expressive singer/songwriter folk/pop.

With three studio albums and hundreds of club and college performances behind it, the Project's new Souls has, says Davis, "elements of growth and maturity" adding, "I like to use albums to keep a timeline of my life." Point in fact: lead track "Stay With Me", where strumming mandolins and countrified harmonies meet an electric twang and solid backbeat kick. Lyrically, Davis keeps things mostly earnest and observational except when he decides to inject some party atmosphere into the proceedings. You can practically hear feet hitting the dance floor as tempos pitch forward, choruses tumble faster and suddenly the mood shifts from introspective to celebratory.

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Benjy Davis Project - "Stay With Me" (from the album Lost Souls Like Us)

Benjy Davis Project - "Green and Blue" (from the 2008 album Dust)

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Almost Alice - Companion Soundtrack to Alice In Wonderland/Various (Pop/Rock)

Altan - 25th Anniversary Celebration (Celtic/Pop/Folk)*

Athlete - Black Swan (Rock/Pop)*

Benjy Davis Project - Lost Souls Like Us (Pop/Rock)*

Black 47 - Gangsters and Bankers (Rock/Celtic/Pop)*

Chris Standring - Bossa Blue (Jazz/Pop/Guitar)

Citizen Cope - The Rainwater LP (Pop/Folk/Blues)*

Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey - Soundtrack (Carbon Leaf) (Pop)

Danny Gokey - My Best Days (Country) (ex-American Idol)

David Bowie - David Bowie (2-CD Deluxe Version (Pop/Rock)

Dee Dee Bridgewater - Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee (Jazz/Vocal)*

Easton Corbin - Easton Corbin (Country)

Emma Pollock - The Law of Large Numbers (Pop/Alt/Indie)*

Flogging Molly - Live at the Greek Theater (Rock/Celtic/Folk/Punk)

Great American Taxi - Reckless Habits (Blues/Rock/JamBand/Bluegrass)

Groove Armada - Black Light (Pop/Electronic/Dance)

Jamie Cullum - The Pursuit (CD/DVD) (Jazz/Pop/Vocals)*

Jason Derulo - Jason Derulo (R+B/Pop)

John Hiatt - The Open Road (Pop/Rock/Americana)*

Lifehouse - Smoke and Mirrors (Rock/Pop)

Little Boots - Hands (Pop)

Ludacris - Battle of the Sexes (Hip Hop/R+B)

Mantler -  Monody (Pop/Rock)

Nuala Kennedy - Tune In (Celtic/Folk)

Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back (Pop/Rock)*

Raheem DeVaughn - The Love and War Masterpeace (R+B)

Rogue Wave - Permalight (Pop/Rock/Indie)*

Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Concert (Folk/Pop/Blues)*

Seabear - We Built A Fire (Pop/Alt)*

Sharleen Spiteri - Movie Songbook (Pop) (Import)*

Shooter Jennings and Hierophant - Black Ribbons (Country/Southern Rock)

Songs from the Sarah Silverman Show  (Pop/Comedy)

These New Puritans - Hidden (Pop/Alt/Rock/Progressive)