You provide the rhythm and I'll provide the soul

The newest Over the Rhine album, called The Trumpet Child, is currently streaming free of charge over at AOL Music.

If you haven't heard Over the Rhine yet, you're in for a treat. I have been a fan since college, when an ex introduced me to the husband-and-wife duo out of Ohio. I immediately loved them on the strength of Karin Bergquist's voice alone - lusty, full, and charming. The fact that they write consistently likeable songs as well is just icing on the cake.

Their style is an eclectic mix of pop, jazz, blues, Americana and cabaret. The first song on the new album sounds like a lost Tom Waits track - in fact, most of the album has a sort of Waits-ian appeal to it.

If you like what you hear, check out their MySpace page for a tour schedule, their official Web site and then have fun combing through their extensive discography.

Stay Humble

Nashville singer/songwriter Tyler James hasn't released his debut album yet, so now is a great time to start loving him, while you can still see him in tiny, intimate college venues.

I mean, seriously, check out his list of influences:

"bob dylan, paul simon, paul mccartney, joni mitchell, rainer marie rilke, nick drake, neil young, tom waits, the band, woody allen, jaoa gilberto, bill withers, randy newman, david bowie, mark kozelek, wilco, beck, four tet, jesus christ"

Does it get any better than that? Not in my opinion.

Visit his MySpace page. Or better yet, watch this excellent short film that follows him on tour and chronicles a day in the life of a Nashville singer/songwriter who is working on his first album. The song is "Stay Humble." And I love it.

Kick it into Coolsville

My list of desert-island discs changes daily - or so it sometimes seems. There are a few that remain on the list permanently, and an ever rotating collection of things I think I can't live without.

The thing I can't live without this week is Rickie Lee Jones. I even have tickets to see her at the Pabst at the end of the month. To prepare for it, I've been listening to her incomparable eponymous debut and the recent three-disc collection Duchess of Coolsville. The debut is a definite desert-island disc. 11 tracks and every single one of them great. From the radio-friendly hit single "Chuck E's in Love" (written about fellow musician and then-paramour Chuck E. Weiss) to the peppy "Young Blood" to the melancholy "Coolsville" - I literally cannot pick a favorite or even a group of them. The All Music Guide calls it "one of the most impressive debuts of a singer/songwriter ever" - and I couldn't agree more.

Once you've developed a deep appreciation of all things Rickie Lee, dive into the three-disc compilation Duchess of Coolsville. The compilation spans her career to this point, and includes most of her studio recordings as well as several live and demo versions. The AMG says, "It's everything a career retrospective should be and then some, and it places the artist in her proper context: as an adventurer with a fiery yet tender heart that expresses itself in song without reservation, artifice, or guile."

Along with Weiss and former boyfriend Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones really captures a certain west-coast-on-a-road-trip-to-New-Orleans vibe that brings to life the feeling of creative possibility that was the byproduct of 1970s isolationism.

Highlights of Duchess of Coolsville for me were the happy duet "Beat Angels," the Paris-in-the-1950s-influenced "Bitchenostrophy," the jazz-tinged "Satellites" and the positively ear-gasmic jam "Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking." And that's not even including the demos, every one of which is great.