Setting off what seems to be a full summer schedule for Blue Fog (with new discs from $100 and Andre Ethier to come), Jennifer Castle follows 2006's self-released Live At The Music Gallery with more sparse, beguiling beauty. Castle's guitar playing is as wonkily gentle as in her celebrated live shows, punctuating pauses with bluesy pull-offs. Folk-fiddling fellows Ryan Driver and Doug Tielli cameo, as You Can't Take Anyone ably introduces parts beyond our city limits to the range and power of one of this town's true balladeers, singing a secret language about to be made not-so-secret.

Bookended by wordless piano-led pieces, any other changes to that ever-consistent Sexsmith songcraft on Exit Strategy are subtle, such as the Cuban horns betraying the sessions' Havana locale and helping to lighten the mood on his response to Feist's Reminder recording of co-write "Brandy Alexander", taking a more carefree view of the trouble he's in (don't know about the late-Cohenesque female backup vocal, though!). "Poor Helpless Dreams" casts Sexsmith in the same fine-fitting near-R&B cloak once worn on Retriever's "Whatever It Takes", this time picking the pace up to disco-lite tempo.

The fame of those few tunes he wrote that broke through ("Eve Of Destruction", "Secret Agent Man") may still precede him, but the mystery that has surrounded P.F. Sloan ever since Jimmy Webb penned a song (concerning the price paid for the act of creative, soul-wringing songwriting) in his honour (and Eugene Landy temporarily lay claim to his identity!) unclouds itself that much more with the release of this Big Beat anthology, collecting Sloan's first two records for Dunhill, Songs Of Our Times and Twelve More Times. Slighted, sneering folkie-done-wrong self-righteousness rarely sounded so tuneful.

With Drag City following the example just set by The Raconteurs in sneaking this album onto shelves, and after enough covers, demos and live recordings to tide us over in the two-year interim, we're suddenly, happily given a new full-length Will Oldham effort to contemplate. Marrying The Letting Go's atmospheric approach to the upbeat, relaxed glint of such past efforts as Ease Down The Road, the perverse touches are still there if you look hard enough, and Ashley Webber shines as co-vocalist on many of these songs. One to sit with and listen to in good company.  

Anyone who's ever witnessed Eric Chenaux's playing (whether jazz guitar in Drumheller, free improvisation in The Draperies, Guayaveras and countless other permutations, 'standards' old and modern in The Reveries, or his own singing songs) is aware of his ability to floor without fanfare, letting his music speak for itself with soul and dignity, fusing forms with a tender, studied ease. Chenaux's second set for Constellation finds the de facto Rat-drifting ambassador digging deeper into his Scots-style reels in particular, aided by, among many others, David Prentice's violin and Nick Fraser's tattoo rolls.

Timed for release alongside Eric Chenaux's Sloppy Ground is frequent collaborator (in The Guayaveras, Draperies, and Reveries) Ryan Driver's first solo set, recorded last fall and produced with fellow Reverie Jean Martin. Touching on the kind of woozy country Driver sings with The silt, yet ranging out with falsetto yodellers "Time And Trouble" and "Spinning Towers" (both already live staples at this point), assists from Martin, Chenaux, Andrew Downing, Jennifer Castle and Martin Arnold flesh out another dreamy nethergenre missive from Planet Rat-drifting.

Aficionados of Andy Cabic's caravan may already be hip to many of these covers, having possibly heard the touring band assembled for To Find Me Gone playing from this very songbook during their past few visits to town. The laidback layered harmonies on Elyse Weinberg's "Houses" betray relations to Gary Louris' Vagabonds sessions (on which Cabic guested, and with whom the Vetiver live band has toured and backed up), while Vashti Bunyan sleepily tackles private-press little-known Dia Joyce. Includes Cabic and company's take on Loudon Wainwright III's eminently repeatable "The Swimming Song".

In the six years since Billy Bragg's last album of new material, fans have been tided over with retrospective repackagings including a greatest hits/B-side set, two boxed volumes, and remasters-plus-bonus tracks of his discography. With the Blokes back in tow (and another titular nod to Colin MacInnes), Bragg's politics are mostly personal here; many songs address problems of love and faith that could be just as easily directed at one's country or culture as to one's partner. However polite the production might get, there's an honesty that's always plainly sung, outward-looking and rarely overreaching.

Comparisons are bound to be made between these two and other girl-guy pairings of the past while, especially Dean & Britta and Isobel Campbell with Mark Lanegan. She & Him, though, is more of a lead-and-accompaniment deal, with Zooey Deschanel writing the tunes and singing upfront (mostly backing herself on vocals) with a sad simplicity evoking a twangier El Perro Del Mar, while M. Ward has a hand in the arrangements but doesn't actually sing all that often (which makes his occasional croon even more striking, as on the first of three well-placed covers, "You've Really Got A Hold On Me").

It may not feature Your trickster Host intoning his hand of tall tales (most of which are true), but unlike another such compilation of tracks broadcast on Dylan's idiosyncratic and enormously popular satellite radio show, this new ACE collection comes fully licensed and approved by its producers. With liners by a crack team of writers that are nearly as entertaining and authoritative as the tangents dispensed on Dylan's Hour itself (and that's no mean feat), any fan of American music is going to find many a mind-blowing piece of the past here.

Possessing a striking, teeth-clenched falsetto that, like Tom Brosseau, Dirty Projectors, TV On The Radio or local heroes Sandro Perri and The silt, draws you in and compels you to pay attention, Justin Vernon (formerly of Raleigh NC's DeYarmond Edison) retreated to his father's cabin in rural Wisconsin to record the bulk of this album, originally self-released last year and now picked up by Jagjaguwar. The project name is purposely corrupted from French for "good winter", a perfect image to pair with these happy-sad songs of solitude.

OK, let's make this clear. The Numero Group is simply not capable of putting out anything less than the most magnificent lost music around. And while many of their albums have focused on unheralded soul treasures (their Eccentric Soul titles), this second Wayfaring Strangers compilation acknowledges a whole other side to this label. Guitar Soli is a top-notch disc of solo guitar instrumentals that act as a superb accompaniment to the influential music of Robbie Basho and John Fahey. Complete with eloquent, lengthy liner notes, you just can't go wrong here. Exceptional stuff.

Let's talk comfort food. This writer is a firm believer in the art of these humble, tried-and-true meals. Roast chicken. Pot roast. Fish and chips. The problem here is not that these meals are boring, per se, but rather that people misinterpret their everyday-ness as a reason to write them off as unworthy of creativity or care. Hayden's latest is like that rare treat when your hosts make their mac and cheese with roasted garlic and top it with fresh basil. It's still mac and cheese, only more glorious, more mature, more caring. Hey, did you put rosemary and red wine in this meatloaf? Fantastic...

A roots songwriter blessed with hiccuping, switch-blade guitar chops, Doucet is not concerned with innovation. His craft is a refinement of the pop/country/folk canon populated by Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zandt, Neil Young, and, perhaps most crucially, local heroes Blue Rodeo. And much like, say, Josh Rouse, his unfailing tunefulness and precision can sometimes obscure what good songwriter he is. And he is very good. Aside from a surprising cover of The Cure's "The Lovecats"--which nudges the tune gently into rockabilly territory--Blood's Too Rich stays his solid course.

Even when he was a member of the Deadly Snakes, Chad Ross had been forging his own musical path. First known as Ghoststory, Ross has now pressed the moniker of Nordic Nomadic into service. Tellingly, both names serve as a pretty decent description of this self-titled album: a skeletal mixture of haunted folk and barren, windswept songcraft. The only remaining traces of his garage rock past can be found in his love of warm, authentic tones. An autumnal beauty and slight sense of foreboding bathes these songs in an unassuming but poignant light. A sweet treat to cap a great year for Toronto tunes.

Started in 2006 and running for 50 episodes, the first season of Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour confirmed a few things: he has a great affinity for the early country/blues/folk/jazz artists that shaped him as a youth; and he is a keen observer of modern culture, as evidenced by the occasional LL Cool J, Blur or Streets tune tossed into the mix. This 2CD, 52 song release takes at least one song from each of the programs, covering themes like Hair, Coffee, Weather, and The Devil. As a collection of the roots of American Music, it's dead-on and nicely balanced between the well-known and the obscure.

Following suit with his collaboration with Tortoise, Ask Forgiveness finds Bonnie 'Prince' Billy once again in the mood for covers. This time, he's backed by The Espers' Meg Baird and Greg Weeks and while the music is a little less eclectic than that of the Tortoise album, the selection is no less varied. That Will Oldham manages to cover Bjork, Danzig, R. Kelly, and Phil Ochs within one coherent EP reinforces the fact that this guy is more than just a great songwriter--he's a master interpreter. Speaking of his songwriting, Forgiveness includes one new Oldham tune, "I'm Loving The Street". Consistency, thy name is Bonnie.

This reissue of the classic Drake box set is a curious one. There's no disputing his studio albums themselves--Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter and Pink Moon are CLASSIC and getting them together is great. However, it lacks the killer rareties collection, Time Of No Reply found on the original Fruit Tree. Does the inclusion of a new 100-page book and DVD of the documentary A Skin Too Few compensate for this omission? Ultimately, that's up to the consumer, but as someone who has always told people to not bother with a Drake best-of CD because you're gonna want them all anyway, it's nice to have Fruit Tree back.

At the time of these recordings, cult folk icon Vashti Bunyan was just another pop hopeful in London trying to break into the industry as a girl group singer. Featuring production by Andrew Loog Oldham, as well as a title track written by Jagger and Richards, these sessions never really bore any fruit. Cue the legend: Bunyan quit the scene in frustration, a reclusive experience that eventually led to the writing of her revered Just Another Diamond Day album. This disc shows that she probably deserved better than she got from these tunes—even if fans of Diamond Day are kinda glad it didn't work out for her.

As Polmo Polpo, Perri was the voiceless creator of beautifully submerged, amorphous music. So it's somewhat shocking to see just how nuanced a singer and songwriter he actually is. Hints of the great potential for Tiny Mirrors have been littered across CD-R releases and 2006's strong Sandro Perri Plays Polmo Polpo, not to mention his always excellent supporting cast of players. But that voice! Bringing to mind such singers as Arthur Russell and Talk Talk's Mark Hollis, Perri's voice is simply a revelation and Tiny Mirrors marks its strongest step into the world yet. Makes you wonder what other tricks he's hiding.