Ivan & Alyosha normally deals with expectations right off the bat. The folk pop group — which takes its name from two characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov — is often assumed to be a duo. But the band faced even higher expectations with its recently released debut album, All The Times We Had, as the Seattle combo has been buzzed about since 2009.

The record didn’t disappoint — our pals at NPR Music hailed its “gorgeous, swelling, impeccably built songs” and “gigantic hooks.”

Hear Ivan & Alyosha perform three songs from All The Times We Had.

Stream the performance at Soundcheck.WNYC.org

Shannon McNally (Sacred Sumac)

Louisiana musical icon and swamp-pop pioneer Bobby Charles died in 2010, one month before his 72nd birthday. Shannon McNally, an acclaimed singer/songwriter in her own right, is helping to preserve Charles’ legacy with “Small Town Talk.” The 14 tracks included on the album were hand-picked by McNally, producer Dr. John and Charles before he passed away. The results are spectacular, as McNally shines bright on “Street People,” “String of Hearts,” “I Spent All My Money,” “Homemade Songs,” the title track, “Save Me Jesus” and “I Must Be in a Good Place Now.” A fitting tribute to one of the greats.

Courtney Jaye’s combination of radiant pop and roots regalia once suggested a style akin to the southern California sound of the early to mid ‘70s. No more though. This time around, her concession to commercial appeal is apparent, in the lavish arrangements and particularly in her sultry singing. Indeed this, her third disc to date, identifies her as something of a chanteuse, an image far removed from the down home designs preferred by her peers.

Although she surrounds herself with an Americana elite – Thad Cockrell, Mike Wrucke (Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert), Fred Eltringham (Dixie Chicks, The Wallflowers), bassist Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing, Fiona Apple), pedal steel virtuoso Greg Leisz (Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Springsteen) and guitarists Josh Grange (The Jayhawks, Pistol Annies) and Neal Casal (Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson) — Love and Forgiveness boasts more sparkle and sheen. Whether it’s the spirited “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” the sturdy swagger and assertive authority of “One Way Conversation” and “I Thought About It,” or the sheer exuberance of “New Day” and “Ask Me To,” the general feeling is one that’s predominantly pop, effusive and engaging. It’s a bit slick, but Jaye still deserves points for her adroit execution.

See the full review & rating at Blurt!

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Stephen Kellogg knows this, and over the past year, he’s had to deal with both the good and the bad on some level.

Last spring, Kellogg was forced to face one of the road’s negatives when the subject of road burnout was brought up by members of his longtime band, The Sixers. Simultaneously, Kellogg adds, there was an overall feeling within the group that maybe it was time to do something else for a while.

“I was surprised in the immediate,” Kellogg recalls, “but it’s not like we don’t communicate and I don’t know where everyone is at in their lives. And then it just became about what to do with the information, knowing that some of the guys wanted to mix it up and have a break. It was more important to me to keep our relationships intact, and I didn’t want to go against that.

“So rather than break the band up and do reunions and all that, I said — after I had a little time to think about it — ‘How do you feel about a hiatus? That’s something you can come back from or not come back from. Go see what you need to see, and I’ll do the same, and let’s see where it leads us.’”

Ironically, once it was clear that a hiatus would be the way to go, Kellogg and the Sixers launched what he describes as “two really fun tours.” “One was an acoustic tour,” he says, “and then we did the big electric tour where we played two-and-a-half, three hours per night.”

Around the same time, the Connecticut-based Kellogg came to the realization that he wanted to make an album “that had some things that were more tailored to my personal aesthetic that were a little harder to get through when you’re working as a semi-democracy.”

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McNally teamed with New Orleans musical legend Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack to shine a spotlight on Charles’ overlooked body of work. Small Town Talk features guest performances by Derek Trucks, Will Sexton, Luther Dickinson, and Vince Gill. It’s a labor of love that was recorded with Charles’ approval and input before his death in 2010, offering a posthumous tribute to this wonderful artist’s career. McNally and Dr. John consulted with Charles before choosing a group of songs that give us a broad overview of Charles’ work. McNally’s dark, probing vocals explore by turns the passion, deep soul and sparkling wit of this material, while Dr. John frames the structures with sure-handed arrangements augmented by the brilliant Wardell Quezergue and played enthusiastically by Mac’s New Orleans-based band, the Lower 911.

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Singer-songwriter Dominique Pinto goes by Dom La Nena, ‘Dom the Little Girl.’ Like Lil’ Wayne before her, the name refers unironically to her delicate stature. Unlike Lil’ Wayne, La Nena makes music that fits the pseudonym: delicate, very simple acoustic songs that could almost be lullabyes. Her debut album is Ela (She, in Portuguese).

Many of the songs have melancholic themes, which she attributes to her nomadic life. “I’m always missing someone and missing somewhere,” she tells Kurt Andersen. All that missing works in her favor, though. Ela is rich with musical influences from Dom’s native Brazil; Argentina, where she moved on her own (at 13) to study cello; and France, where she has now lived for much of her life.

It was in France that she made the transition from classical music to songwriting. After a chance meeting with a producer, she began playing cello on pop recording sessions. “It was the first time I was without score or without a teacher telling me what to do,” she tells Kurt. She quickly took to writing her own music, and especially to the possibilities of digital looping pedals, which allow her to play multiple parts in real time. “When I discovered the loop it was like my dream — to do a little orchestra alone.”

Taking joy in the solitude of a looping pedal is natural for a musician who no longer has a country to call home. That life has prepared her well for international touring. “When you are a musician you are never at home. So you [become] yourself, your home.”

Get a bonus track at Studio360.org

Watch the video at Rhapsody.com