"Every sunrise I see takes the piss out of me/And there's cold tea in our loving cup," sings Dan Willson on his band's debut. A crack-voiced folkie who was raised an evangelical Christian, Willson warbles about crises of faith, sexual frustration and assorted bummers over wobbly folk grooves. But as melodic wimps go, he's up there with fellow Scots Belle and Sebastian; his tunes are full of warm, woozy singsong charm. And he balances religious-seeker earnestness with a healthy sense of humor – when he sings, "I beat myself off when I sleep on your futon/I walk in the rain with my secondhand suit on," on the very pretty waltz " Religious Songs," he's a sad sack you can't help but root for.

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“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."