Dig These Discs :: Summer Twins, Rod Stewart, Joanna Newsom, Pentatonix, Carrie Underwood

Singer Rod Stewart releases his 30th studio album, a collection of 15 "storytelling songs," which draw on personal experiences. Country singer Carrie Underwood releases her fifth studio album, "Storyteller," a collection of stories inspired by characters like the abused wife who kills her spouse in "Church Bells." Singer/songwriter Joanna Newsom releases her fourth studio album, "Divers." American a capella group Pentatonix releases their eponymous fourth studio album -- their first album of non-cover songs. And the Summer Twins, aka sisters Chelsea and Justine Brown, drop their sophomore album, a collection of '50s-style vocal harmonies. There's something for everyone in this week's Dig These Discs.

"Another Country" (Rod Stewart)

Singer Rod Stewart releases his 30th studio album, "Another Country," featuring 15 songs that range from acoustic Celtic songs to folk songs, reggae and ballads. They are what Stewart calls "storytelling songs," which draw on personal experiences, and he said that he was spurred to write the lion's share of them after the success of his 2013 album, "Time." He kicks off this packed bag of tricks with "Love Is" comparing it to a litany of things, before deeming love to be, "the craziest thing you'll ever start." He rocks like his early days in "Please," beseeching her to "stay with me tonight, let's leave our troubles behind." You'll get goosebumps when he hits the high note on "Please." He gets a rocking country feel in the fast-moving "Walking In the Sunshine," heading where the weather suits his clothes. The steel drums and the lazy calypso rhythm keep "Love and Be Loved" meandering along, and sing out an anthem in "We Can Win." His title track has a folk twang to it, complete with fiddles, as he sings of "the girl of my dreams, the mother of my children." He sings again of family in "Way Back Home," and says, "I've known you since you were only 19, and you're still the one and only girl for me" in "Can We Stay Home Tonight?" He sings his 'Little Soldier' to sleep in the lullaby "BatmanSupermanSpiderman." Stewart changes gears in the bad-ass "The Drinking Song," swearing that, "it was the drink that made me do it." Banjo moves "Hold the Line" along, and acoustic guitar plucks heartstrings in "Friend For Life." In "Every Rock 'N' Roll Song To Me," she's his "Strawberry Fields" and his "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," his "Heart of Glass" and "Bette Davis Eyes." That's some love! He tries every trick in the book to bed her in "One Night With You." He finishes an excellent album with "In A Broken Dream," featuring screaming electric guitars. After all of these years, Stewart is still able to reach his fans and touch their lives through his music.
(Capitol Records)

"Storyteller" (Carrie Underwood)

Country singer Carrie Underwood releases her fifth studio album, "Storyteller," a collection of stories inspired by characters like the abused wife who kills her spouse in "Church Bells." This seven-time Grammy winner has parlayed her early "American Idol" win into a superstar career, named twice as the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year. She kicks off the new album with "Renegade Runaway," singing, "She's a devil in a satin dress, you don't even know her hair trigger is aimed right at your chest." Alive or dead, they'll take her either way, cause she's wanted, sings Underwood. From lipstick stains to red wine, she sees all the signs of his philandering in the clich�d "Dirty Laundry," and banjo and bass drums keep "Church Bells" moving along, the story of Jenny, a poor girl who catches the eye of a rich man who gets drunk and beats her. The last line has Jenny "slipping something into his Tennessee whiskey that the law will never find." Her "Heartbeat" is a pop-inspired love song, and "Smoke Break" follows the life of a hard-working single mother of four and other blue-collar folks, just trying to get through the day. This is classic country stuff.
A haughty girl goes missing in "Choctaw County Affair," a swinging country cut about a possible blackmail and murder case. They're killing time and bottles in "Like I'll Never Love You Again" and looking for love in "Chaser." Clarkson hides her secrets under the covers in "Relapse" and is daddy's little girl forever in "The Girl You Think I Am." She gets funky in the track "Mexico," singing, "if they get the cuffs on us, it's 25 to life!" It's racy, but Underwood shines brightest when she sings her truth, like in the last tune "What I Never Knew I Always Wanted," an ode to her husband and new baby. Get into country with Carrie Underwood.
(Sony Music Nashville)

"Divers" (Joanna Newsom)

Singer/songwriter Joanna Newsom releases her fourth studio album, "Divers." In her first single "Sapokanikan," she sings, "the cause is Ozymandian, the map of Sapokanikan is sanded and beveled, the land lone and leveled by some unrecorded and powerful hand," while walking through New York City. The album features arrangements from Newsom,�Nico Muhly, Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth and�Ryan Francesconi. She kicks off this collection of 11 tunes with the quirky cut "Anecdotes," singing high and strange in a sound like the lovechild of Yoko Ono and Tori Amos. The music is peppered with what sounds like flutes and lutes along with piano and guitar. Newsom's voice rides up and down the scales in "Leaving the City," and "Goose Eggs." It sounds a bit like Joni Mitchell on helium. She sings of ships and war in "Waltz of the 101st Lightborne," and it sounds just like a Highlands jig. "I'm ashamed of half the things I say," she warbles in the piano-accompanied "The Things I Say." The title track "Divers" is a spine-chilling love song that has her as the divers' wife, contemplating the pain of birth verses the pain of death. At more than seven minutes long, it is epic. The "Same Old Man" stands in the garden in a mackintosh, and Newsom warns, "You Will Not Take My Heart Alive," in a country twang. "My life came and went," Newsom despairs in the spare guitar track "A Pin-Light Bent." She finishes the album up with "Time, As A Symptom." You're probably not going to hear cuts from this album at your local roller rink. But that's okay; it's the quirky oddball who will love the songs of Joanna Newsom best.
(Drag City)

"Pentatonix" (Pentatonix)

American a capella group Pentatonix releases their eponymous fourth studio album. This is their first album of non-cover songs, and it's doing well on the charts, battling for Number 1 with Demi Lovato. The pop quintet has done well with their first single, "Can't Sleep Love," a throwback '90s type sound. They start out their 13-track album with "Na Na Na," a bouncy tune with a great clap track. Male vocals lead the pop/R&B mash-up "Can't Sleep Love," a song about finding a love that has you dreaming about them all day, and can't sleep at night. The whole crew breaks bad in "Sing," saying, "it doesn't matter if he let you go, it doesn't matter if she hurt you so, get up and dance, just feel that beat." It's like a real-life episode of "Glee," only a lot less annoying. They hit great harmony in the sunny tune, "Misbehavin'" and in "Ref" break bad, singing, "you made your bed -- you know the rest." The fast-moving "First Things First" will have you dancing, and sing, "Try and play it like James Dean, cigarettes in my sleeve" in the harmonious "Rose Gold." Pentatonix follows it with that old R&B chestnut, "If I Ever Fall In Love." They go for a funky gospel sound in "Cracked" and harmonize in the R&B cut "Water." They slow things down in "Take Me Home," keeping it simple with snaps and vocals, and the male vocals in "New Year's Day" kick it off like a Michael Bubl� track, as they sing of being kings of the world. They finish the album with "Light In The Hallway," saying goodnight with this classic arrangement. If you never quite got over the thrill of your high school glee club, Pentatonix is the tonic for your aching heart.
(RCA Records)

"Limbo" (Summer Twins)

Summer Twins, aka sisters Chelsea and Justine Brown, drop their sophomore album, a collection of '50s-style vocal harmonies. The two pair up with musicians Michael Rey and Andy Moran for this album, the first in the three years since their self-titled debut. They start with the simple acoustic and drums pairing of "Blinds," singing, "I'm kicking and screaming, but nobody hears me." You'll be doing the wipeout as you listen to the kicky "Demons," and imagining the narrow streets of Italy in "Florence." "Our World" is a straight girl band track, as they croon, "I'll wait for you and you'll wait for me/ there's nothing else we can do as far as I can see." They swing in "Love Within" and wonder "do you ever think of me?" in "JuJu." You'll love the folksy guitar twang of "Dreamin'" and sing, "I dreamed of you last night, woke up with heartache" in "Helpless." They sound like old Liz Phair in "Stop & Go" and ramp up the heat slowly but surely in the track, "Fire." They wrap things up with the louche cut, "So Funny." If you love living life like you're inside of the soundtrack of "Pulp Fiction," The Summer Twins is the band for you.
(Burger Records)