Crows (Rykodisc, 2010) Allison MoorerLast night I warned a college writing class against assuming that the "speaker" of a poem was in fact the poet. But it's hard to ignore the life behind Allison Moorer's art. Moorer was 14 when she and her sister witnessed their father kill their mother and then himself.

Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard (F-Stop/Atlantic Record/2009)Since his death in 1969, beat novelist Jack Kerouac has become a pop-culture perennial. Each generation of young rebels lays claim to his restless spirit, while a few sad cases also imitate his drinking to no good end.

Christmas in the Heart Bob Dylan (Columbia, 2009)

The Avett Brothers (Sony, 2009)

Yo La Tengo (Matador Records, 2009) First off, Yo La Tengo is not a salsa band. They're not even Hispanic. They are white, artsy-bohemian types in their mid-to-late 40s. The band name, which means "I have it," was what guitarist Ira Kaplan heard a Spanish-speaking New York Mets outfielder using to call a teammate off a fly ball.

Levon Helm (Vanguard Records, 2009) Beginning in 1969, Levon Helm, with his mates in The Band, helped save rock and roll from psychedelia and all its pomps. In a world crazed by fads and fashions, songs like "The Weight" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" sounded 100 years old. And that was the point.

Elvis Costello (Hear Music, 2009)

Various Artists (Hear Music, 2009)

Honey Moon The Handsome Family (Carrot Top Records, 2009)

No Line on the Horizon U2 (Universal-Island Records, 2009)