SmartMusic: 5 New CDs

New releases this month from rising stars and seasoned performers point to the continuing strength of the American singer-songwriter tradition. Alongside hip young Brandi Carlile’s latest CD are records from Texas troubadour Lyle Lovett and country royalty Rosanne Cash. There’s also a new record from hit-makers Train, and the soundtrack to New Moon, which is a veritable survey of current indie rock favorites.

Give Up the Ghost

Viewers of ABC's Grey's Anatomy may have become familiar with singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile over the last few seasons; several of her songs have been featured on that hit series and on its spin-off, Private Practice. But Carlile has been building a fan base since the release of her self-titled debut in 2005. Her songs of love and loss manage to be full of feeling yet not bombastic. The wide-ranging Rick Rubin (who’s worked with everyone from Johnny Cash to Metallica) produced Give Up the Ghost and he pays particular attention to Carlile’s range, which can go from whispery croon to full-throttle anguish in a heartbeat. Carlile wrote many of the tracks, and her musical collaborators Tim and Phil Hanseroth wrote others. Elton John provides a guest vocal on the frisky “Caroline,” but the album’s sound is really all Carlile’s, from the driving opening cut, “Looking Out,” to the poignant ballad “Pride and Joy,” in which her singing builds from soft regret to an almost rapturous lament.

Natural Forces

Since his debut record in 1986, Lyle Lovett has released more than a dozen albums, all of them featuring his singular songwriting, which can range from the elegiac “Pontiac,” to the sinister and humorous “L.A. County,” to the stomping “She’s Hot To Go.” Lovett studied journalism at Texas A&M, and his songs display the keen observances of a natural reporter open to the quirks, pitfalls and fleeting triumphs of life. In his career, Lovett has worked in swing (with his Large Band) and smaller ensembles, and here he hews more closely to a rock-inflected country-western feel. “Natural Forces” alternates between the bluegrass twang of “Pantry,” the contemplative country folk of “Whooping Crane” and the driving title song, a sardonic look at romance and happiness. As on his previous records, Lovett has written most of the material here, but he also includes a cover of Vince Gill’s poignant “Sun and Moon and Stars,” about the emotional treachery of self-imposed solitude.