Country music has become a free-trade zone: Witness "Emmylou," a love song about Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, sung by two Swedes with old-school sibling-act harmonies. Johanna and Klara Söderberg are indie rockers at heart: They recorded this set in Omaha with Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis; Conor Oberst does his own Gram Parsons turn on "King of the World." The songs shuffle styles, but the voices transcend genre distinctions – you may not hear a more beautifully sung record this year.

Listen to "Emmylou":

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• Photos: Random Notes

“I Can See for Miles”

A foreboding accusation of lies and deception, "I Can See for Miles" was given a psychedelic hard-rock veneer by Pete Townshend's whiplash guitar riffs and Keith Moon's thundering drums. The song helped break the Who as stars in the United States, giving them a Top Ten hit in late 1967. "I swoon when I hear the sound," boasted Townshend in Rolling Stone. "The words, which aging senators have called 'drug oriented,' are about a jealous man with exceptionally good eyesight. Honest."