If you like soul. . .

. . .then do yourself a huge favor and buy this recording. Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise is making some of the most beautiful music out there today. You'll listen to it and say, "So that's what happened to that kind of music! I thought it was dead!"

If you like a country music via Austin, Texas, you should also treat yourself to Randy Rogers Band's Rollercoaster. It has shades of Steve Earle, though without the strident stupidity Earle has exhibited over the past several years. What political commentary it does have will appeal to Crunch Cons -- though there's plenty of reason to like it otherwise. It's guitar-driven outlaw-ish country-rock, and it's very good. If you don't find yourself at least nodding your head along with it, well -- I just don't know what to think of you.