This companion set to Diamond In The Rough, Shawn Colvin's memoir about battling depression while courting her muse, is a dark journey lyrically: Good folks fail, lovers betray, salvation is an even bet at best. But the music, including the guitars of Bill Frissell and Buddy Miller, heals. And "American Jerusalem" will resonate for anyone who ever hated the Big Apple, even for a New York minute.

Listen to 'All Fall Down':

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.