If you were asked which "lady or gentleman of the canyon" — the iconic 1970s-era singer-songwriters of Los Angeles' Laurel Canyon — had recently delivered a late-middle-age masterpiece, you’d probably guess Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Carole King, Don Henley, CS&N ... basically anyone but JD Souther. That's because he'd stopped recording for 24 years before releasing 'If the World Was You' to such acclaim in late 2008.

Most local bands hit a nice area studio to record their first album. But The Ohms had a bigger impact in mind. After putting together a home demo and receiving a spectacular response to their set at their own annual Ohmstead music festival, the Reggae/Rock quartet cast its net farther from shore and ended up recording in L.A. with No Doubt producer Dito Godwin.

Patty Griffin's voice lies somewhere between Emmylou Harris's crystalline Country beauty and Bonnie Raitt's Blues-fried rasp, giving her a perfect instrument to interpret the largely Black and Southern Gospel tracks on her new album, 'Downtown Church.' It was recorded in a Presbyterian church in Nashville that once claimed Andrew Jackson as a congregate, and Griffin sang the songs from the church's pulpit.

The Brothers and The Sisters feature singer/songwriter Jeremy Pinnell, whose work with The Light Wires and The Great Depression proved him to be one of the most soulful writers in the Folk/Roots arena. The songs are similar but presented in a different setting — instead of electric instruments or a stark acoustic-duo format, The Brothers and The Sisters use banjo, acoustic guitars and dobro (and drums and bass).

Reports say any Guns 'N Roses fans attempting to sport Slash-related shirts to a concert in Canada recently were asked to turn them inside out or go home. In other music news, Hip Hop Artist shun clothing line for oil company and Steven Tyler does karaoke.