www.roanoke.com

CANDI STATON

“Who’s Hurting Now?” (Forced Exposure)

Alabama-born R&B belter Candi Staton earned her “First Lady of Southern Soul” sobriquet in the early 1970s, recording for Rick Hall’s Fame Studios, and she scored one big pop hit with “Young Hearts Run Free” in 1976. After decades singing gospel, she made a pop comeback with 2006’s “His Hands,” recorded for Britain’s Honest Jon’s label. “Who’s Hurting Now?,” a follow-up produced by Lambchop’s Mark Nevers, includes songwriting contributions from ‘60s song scribe Dan Penn, alt-country singer Mary Gauthier, and indie changeling Bonnie Prince Billy, aka Will Oldham, who also wrote the title track of “His Hands.” The uniformly strong set of raspy-voiced soul was issued in the United Kingdom in 2009, but unavailable in the United States until this month. Standout cuts include Staton’s quietly searing reading of Gauthier’s “Mercy Now” and the rough-cut “Lonely Don’t” — cowritten by Vancouver, Wash., bus driver Connie Knapp — which concludes that one is better off with one’s own company than that of a drunken, good-for-nothing man.

— Dan DeLuca, The Philadelphia Inquirer JETHRO TULL

“Aqualung: 40th Anniversary Collector’s and Special Editions” (various packages; EMI)

Forty years old now — thus, these anniversary packages — Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung” is justly famous and justly notorious. It’s famous for its ambition, its treetop playing, and for being one of the few early-’70s concept albums (Ian Anderson denies it; he would) that (a) really did have a coherent, worthwhile concept, and (b) said profound things about it via pop music.

For many, though, it also marks the moment prog vaulted the whale shark. The title track, with its angular chording, sneering vocals, and too-clever breaks (from full-on smash to sensitive strummed guitar, back to breakneck jamming), is now rendered a permanent joke via radio overplay, Exhibit A in prog’s self-immolation. “Aqualung” might be the one time pop touched the face of God — but snot is running down its nose. The sour smell of excess does not, however, overwhelm a headlong, flamboyant collection by a group of musicians ready to try anything. This package is worth having just for that.

How many albums tackle the nature of God, the problem of evil, the notion of grace and, and, and … all that? “Locomotive Breath,” possibly the best of many strong tracks, depicts a world out of control, with Old Charlie swiping the handle (and the singer says, “I’m glad”!). John Evans kills on piano in “Breath,” and Martin Barre is a guitarist splendiferous throughout, especially in “Aqualung” and the superb, unjustly underplayed “Wind-Up.” As Anderson’s characters — Aqualung, Cross-Eyed Mary, Mother Goose (“and she was screaming”), the Jackknife Barber — shamble through a smeary landscape, we’re hit with hair-raising directness: “If Jesus saves/ Well, He’d better save himself/ From the gory glory-seekers/ Who use His name in death,” or the startling insistence that whatever God may be, “He’s not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays.” Sung tenderly. “Aqualung” goes overboard and marks a turning point for a band that, with “Thick as a Brick” and “Passion Play,” would soon ditch its hard-earned audience. These packages let us in on a terrific moment, and the extra features are fascinating. Aqualung is like that train sans handle — it won’t stop going, no way to slow down.

— John Timpane, The Philadelphia Inquirer

KENNY VAUGHAN

“V” (Sugar Hill)

Kenny Vaughan has been the guitar slinger in Marty Stuart’s Fabulous Superlatives for 10 years, and the Colorado native has been an in-demand accompanist since he hit Nashville in the late 1980s.

“V” is Vaughan’s first solo album, and it’s, well, superlative. A brisk and varied set of originals, it blends impressive instrumental mastery with down-to-earth charm.

Backed by the Fabulous Superlatives, including Stuart, Vaughan starts off appropriately with the rollicking honky-tonk of “Country Music Got a Hold on Me.” From there, he dives into Western swing with “Hot Like That,” goes hangdog for the mandolin- accented lament “Lillie Mae,” channels Buck Owens with the propulsive twang of “Stay Out of My Dreams,” gets funky with the Oak Ridge Boys on a trip to “Okolona, Tennessee,” and closes with the driving gospel of “Don’t Leave Home Without Jesus.”

Interspersed among these numbers are three atmospheric but wholly distinct instrumentals, which help round out the vibrant portrait of a sideman who has more than ably stepped to the front.

— Nick Cristiano, The Philadelphia Inquirer

DAUGHTRY “Break the Spell” (19/RCA)

JAMES DURBIN “Memories of a Beautiful Disaster” (Wind-up)

Chris Daughtry and James Durbin were “American Idol’s” most convincing hard rockers and though both came up short in the competition (Daughtry finished fourth on the fifth season in 2006; Durbin finished fourth in May) they haven’t gone quietly. Daughtry, who formed his namesake band, is the most commercially successful male to come out of the “Idol” factory while Durbin’s album follows fast on the heels of the country twosome, Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, who beat him on the show.

Both have also released their new albums with the same producer (Howard Benson) and songwriter Marti Frederiksen appears on both sets to help craft similar, glossy hard pop/rock.

Daughtry’s serves as an example of why the album as an art form is fading in favor of the single. His third release opens with a mighty hard rock roar with “Renegade,” and it’s a keeper if you ignore the trite lyrics. “Renegade” is as punchy as anything Daughtry has delivered to date. But most of the rest, like Daughtry’s previous albums, lacks lyrical substance and contains too many cloying, overwrought midtempo and ballad cuts.

Durbin, on the other hand, has more range than Daughtry and puts his instrument to better use on “Memories of a Beautiful Disaster.” Aside from “Outcast,” a standout collaboration with Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars, the anthemic “Stand Up” or the nu-metal “Higher Than Heaven,” “Memories” is more pop than rock, and Durbin’s engaging presence shows much promise.

— Howard Cohen, McClatchy Newspapers

JOHN McCUTCHEON

“This Land: Woody Gurthrie’s America” (Appalsongs)

This is a folk album, not bluegrass. And that’s a shame because a bluegrass tribute to the songs of Woody Guthrie is long overdue.

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born in Okemah, Okla., just 10 months after Bill Monroe was born in Rosine, Ky. And both became giants in their musical fields.

Monroe’s music leaned more toward the instrumentation; Guthrie’s to the lyrics.

A blending of the two would make for some great music.

McCutcheon, a Guthrie disciple, brings 14 of Guthrie’s songs to life here along with “Hobo’s Lullaby,” a song Guthrie supposedly said was his favorite.

It’s been nearly 60 years since Guthrie, who died in 1967 at age 55, wrote his last song. But his lyrics still sound familiar in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

His most famous song, “This Land Is Your Land,” really says that America belongs to the people, not the rich or the corporations. Here it features an all-star cast including Tom Paxton and Willie Nelson.

“Deportees,” a song about migrant workers being shipped back to Mexico when the crops have been harvested, fits well with today’s immigration debates.

And plenty of people today can relate to “I Ain’t Got No Home.”

“Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done” says that creating a peaceful world would be the biggest thing that we could do. And we haven’t found a way to do that yet.

“Ludlow Massacre” and “1913 Massacre” detail early union struggles. Guthrie’s lyrics are anything but subtle. He believed in calling a “gun thug” a gun thug.

“Pretty Boy Floyd” turns bank robber Charles Arthur Floyd into a 1930s Robin Hood. But the song really says that it was the banks who were the robbers: “Some will rob you with a six-gun/And some with a fountain pen,” Guthrie sang and added, “You won’t never see an outlaw/Drive a family from their home.”

Can’t find it in stores? Try www.FolkMusic.com.

— Keith Lawrence, Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer