Howe Gelb...

Howe Gelb is really a touchstone for alt-country music. While he hasn't reached the heights that, say, Ryan Adams has, not that he would want to, his labors have always been sincere and passionate. Gelb is going to do his own thing for as long as he's physically able, everyone else can fuck off. At least that's the feeling that I get. So there must be a certain satisfaction for him in the relative notoriety and fame he's garnered. Particularly his work with Calexico set a standard for a "style" of music that echoes the desert southwest.

Well, Gelb's latest is 'Sno Angel Like You in which he broadens his sound (even rerecording some songs) by adding a choir to the proceedings. Generally he shys away from the psych freak out guitar squalls that have become his signature instead relying on his songs and his flat though distinguished voice. It's a solid outing for Gelb that further cements his place in the indie rock pantheon.

2 from 'Sno Angel Like You:

But I Did Not

Nail In The Sky