Cowboy Junkies

These Canadian alt-country vets put into practice one of that scene's most worthwhile suppositions: that there's fertile creative territory to be tilled by mating vintage country's twang with more modern sounds. In the Junkies' case, it's the slurred, appropriately druggy atmospherics of the Velvet Underground; the cover of "Sweet Jane" that anchors their 1988 classic The Trinity Session draws a line from Hank Williams' heartbreak to Lou Reed's headache. On One Soul Now, the Junkies' ninth studio album, singer Margo Timmins continues to make regret sound like a very sexy experience, while her guitarist brother Michael matches her moan for moan.