or Mahalia Jackson wailing low and powerful about hers, whether it's Bob Marley crying in a Jamaican patois about Haile Selassie or Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan singing in Urdu about Allah, the best religious music shares the contagious, thrilling conviction that the singer's god is the most important thing in his or her life. And that passion is too often missing from "Common Ground: Country Songs of Faith, Love & Inspiration," the new anthology of gospel songs by country stars on the Sony labels. -- Geoffrey Himes  (less)

notion that the Indigos can't rock. Recorded with London ensemble Ghostland (Sinead O'Connor's backing band on her 1998 Lilith dates), Come On Now Social doesn't abandon the Georgia duo's familiar folkish sound, but expands it to include soul ("Peace Tonight"), funked-up mountain music ("Ozilline"), full-on rock ("Compromise"), and blistering Steve Earle-style country ("Faye Tucker"). Guest artists abound, including Sheryl Crow, Luscious Jackson's Kate Schellenbach, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Joan Osborne, the Band's Rick Danko and Garth Hudson, and Natacha Atlas, but they don't overshadow Emily Saliers and Amy Ray, who are at the top of their game here. --Daniel Durchholz  (less)

though, as in the hands of a Rodney Crowell or a Kathy Mattea, country-pop marries the storytelling craft of Nashville with the harmonic sophistication of the Beatles. Crowell is the obvious model on Days Gone By , James House's third attempt to make the transition from songwriter to artist. He doesn't quite rise to Crowell's high standards, but House comes close enough to make this a thoroughly enjoyable example of commercial country-pop. Like Crowell, House is a great admirer of Roy Orbison. The best song on House's new album, Little by Little , was obviously inspired by the operatic crooner in shades and it builds unstoppably from tentative efforts to forget an old lover to a big, climactic confession of undying love. Orbison's...  (less)