Joan Baez’s 24th album leads this week’s new releases. Day After Tomorrow sees Baez collaborate with Steve Earle for a set of tunes that draw from tough minded blues and Appalachian bluegrass. “Best of all is the title track, Tom Waits’ heartbreaking Iraq War ballad, sung in the voice of a frightened GI: ‘What I miss you won’t believe/Shoveling snow and raking leaves.’ Delivered by Baez with dusky restraint, it proves an old protest-music lesson too often unheeded: When it comes to prophesying, stories work better than slogans,” writes Rolling Stone’s Jody Rosen. Click below for the full review, plus reviews of new albums from Jessica Simpson, Gym Class Heroes and more.

• Album Review: Joan Baez, Day After Tomorrow (3 stars)

• Album Review: Jessica Simpson, Do You Know (3 stars)

• Album Review: Gym Class Heroes, The Quilt (2.5 stars)

• Album Review: Tricky, Knowle West Boy, (3.5 stars)

• Album Review: Okkervil River, The Stand Ins, (3 stars)