Pro B Tech Records Sam Ritter Stella

The follow-up to 2017's loose and versatile Gathering, Fever Breaks sees the lauded Idaho-bred singer/songwriter teaming up with producer and Americana wunderkind Jason Isbell and delivering a taut ten-track set backed by Isbell and his formidable 400 Unit. Less prone to stylistic detours than previous outings, Fever Breaks is a straight-up band album, with Ritter and company administering some serious muscle on cuts like "Old Black Magic" and "Losing Battles," the latter of which gives off a distinct Crazy Horse vibe. Dylanesque opener "Ground Don't Want Me" takes a similar approach, but retains a modicum of heartland folksiness, bringing it more in line with Ritter's earlier works.

Few young singer/songwriters have quite so quickly won the sort of acclaim that Idaho-born Josh Ritter gained with his first self-released album, which won rave reviews, earned him slots opening for Bob Dylan, and made him a minor celebrity in Ireland, where he's already headlined several tours. Ritter's second disc (and first nationally released album), Golden Age of Radio, makes it clear that his sudden success is well deserved, and based on genuine talent. Ritter's moody, evocative songs seem to reside in a middle ground between Richard Buckner and Ryan Adams, but without suggesting he's lifted anything from either of those performers.

The Complete Wooly Bully Years 1963-1968 includes six albums on three CDs plus bonus recordings, including non-LP singles. The quintessential Tex-Mex band of the 1960s, Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs hailed from Dallas, Texas where Domingo "Sam" Samudio was born in 1937 and raised. After chart success eluded them after recording Haunted House for the Dingo label in 1965 they landed a contract with MGM Records, home of such rock 'n' roll artists as Roy Orbison, The Animals, and Herman's Hermits.

Returning anew to the original record it's fascinating to re-discover how provocative Pink Floyd's classic remains, and to hear how well this quartet's collective interplay served that music. And how beautifully Sam Yahel's organ-while not the dominant voice, surely a prominent presence-sets the aesthetic tone for these proceedings: nothing rushed or forced or extravagant…elegant and swinging and exploratory, never stepping on anyone's toes-deceptively laid back and responsive, always listening intently, with plenty of rhythmic vitality…a sensibility he shares with collaborators Mike Moreno, Ari Hoenig and Seamus Blake, which goes a long ways towards explaining why their take on Pink Floyd's music is so engaging and stands up so well to repeated listenings.

The British blues-rock boom was such a big deal at the end of the 1960s that plenty of also-ran bands got the chance to fill out the bottom of concert and festival bills, and also to record. Sam Apple Pie were among them, and their self-titled debut album didn't offer much in the style that was out of the ordinary, though it did possess basic competence. You needed more than basic competence to make a mark, however, even in a genre that could be as hidebound as British blues. Sam Apple Pie didn't have those extra special somethings, relying too much upon stock blues riffs and good-time energy that might have been effective in a concert setting, but are pretty dull on record. If any influence from their peers seems strongest, it's early Fleetwood Mac (in both their stinging blues modes and their quieter, more reflective ones)…