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This week's reviews: Carrie, Bob & Alison, Gary, Shooter, Steven Curtis, Dwight and Kevin

The week's releases shifted strongly into the country spectrum this week (even the Robert Plant & Alison Krauss duets album has a strong country/roots flavor). Here are the Zagat-like capsules: > Carrie Underwood's second album "delivers on all counts," even...

This week's playlist: I start in country but veer to folk-rock

Some week I ought to do an all-country playlist (including alt-country, not just Nashville product), but though this one starts out that way, it meanders over to Scandinavian rock and American folk-rock as well. I just never know when I...

Keys locks in No. 1 spot at radio

Alicia Keys' No One is No. One this week on the national radio airplay audience chart provided by Nielsen BDS, Arbitron and Radio & Records. Its eight-week journey to the top is among the quickest in chart history, and it...

Bruce back at top, as if by 'Magic'

If you happened to be around someone who's part of the music industry (or affiliated with the part of the music industry that's directly concerned with sales, which come to think of it ought to be just about everybody) just...

Plant & Krauss -- behind the collaboration

Meant to post this earlier, but today was a computer conversion day (which ate up a big chunk of the morning). But check out Brian Mansfield's chat with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, whose Raising Sand album I raved about...

The Britney verdict

We usually run reviews on Tuesdays, as you know, but when you've got something as epochal, as groundbreaking, as soul-stirring as Britney Spears' new one, well, why wait? Steve Jones -- a kind, even, one could say, charitable man --...

First Impressions: What's new, what's old, what's random

Another week when I came up short in getting 10 albums listened to that would fit the usual format of this column (which is current, recent or future-focused). Luckily, another volume (#8) of my favorite anthology series, The Complete Motown...

RIAA has good month -- for accuracy, not volume

The September gold/platinum certifications from the RIAA are in, and there wasn't a whole lot going on. It's a pretty short list in the first place, and when you eliminate a few older records, there are only five records on...

Answering a couple of sales questions

Last week I revived my periodic offer of answering specific record sales questions you might have. (That offer stands, by the way.) Here are the answers to the first two that came in: DHRjericho wanted to know how three indie-rock...

Variety-pak of on-site music content

Lots of music-related stuff to link to tonight: correspondent Brian Passey reports from the Vegoose Festival in Las Vegas, Mike Snider talks to director Peter Bogdanovich about his new Tom Petty documentary, Steve Jones assesses Britney Spears' prospects for sales...