Dave Alvin is steeped in Americana – not just the genre but a deep river of American myth that keeps giving him characters to write about. Former guitarist for roots heroes the Blasters, Alvin fills his 11th album with small towns, highways and losers we imagine he’s encountered on countless tours. Though Alvin has often switched between electric and acoustic, almost everything here is plugged in – above all Alvin, an underrecognized guitar hero. Two songs are addictive: the tear-jerker "Black Rose of Texas" and "Johnny Ace Is Dead," a tragicomedy powered by Steve Mugalian's backbeat and Alvinss burning Strat.

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“Too Close”

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'"