Odds and Ends 001

Ruth Gerson: Deceived (Wrong)

Nine dead women, a stillborn baby girl, a male suicide, and whatever got thrown off the Tallahatchee Bridge ("Knoxville Girl," "Little Sadie") ***

Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: No Help Coming (Transdreamer)

Down-and-out from inside out, quasi-Appalachian style ("No Help Coming," "Lord Knows We're Drinking") ***

Jonny Corndawg: Down on the Bikini Line (Nasty Memories)

Filthy and whimsical, a strange combo anywhere, is even stranger in a Brooklyn weirdo who pretends to sing country music‑-and does, pretty much ("Life of a Bear," "Shaved [Like a Razor]") ***

Amy LaVere: Stranger Me (Archer)

She has a small voice for a roots-targeted gal with too much pride to boop up songs that miss the bull's-eye ("Damn Love Song," "Stranger Me") ***

Rod Picott: Welding Burns (no label)

Hard labor and its grimy fruits ("Sheetrock Hanger," "Welding Burns") **

Blake Shelton: Red River Blue (Warner Bros.)

Although his big voice bogs down making his songwriters' big emotions sound deep, their jokes he's got the attitude for ("Hey," "Get Some") **

Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside: Dirty Radio (Partisan)

Appalled by robot radio, 10,000 cellphone conversations, and the premature death of Polaroid photography, she hooks up with a stand-up bassist and sings the way she imagines witchy mountain women do‑-or rather, did ("Thirteen Years Old," "Write Me a Letter") **

Martina McBride: Eleven (Republic Nashville)

Megacorny about the right things, including breast cancer, 17-year-old daughters, and connubial love ("I'm Gonna Love You Through It," "Marry Me") *