[Mara]

The best new album I have heard in a while is Todd Snider's "East Nashville Skyline". It's gorgeous, groovy, folk-country Americana type-music with a definitely left-wing political bent, sometimes reminding me of Dylan.

I'm also listening to a lot of Sadé (fave is "Love Deluxe"), and Pete Seeger's "American Industrial Ballads" right now. The Seeger stuff is beautiful and haunting, a collection of old labor songs with great historical value.