Gillian Welch

The unusual thing about this edition of the Guide is that three of the six recommended albums come from Nashville-based artists, which hasn't been a normal mark of excellence for years. Vince Gill, Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams, however, sidestep the bland trademarks that make so much of today's country music product seem like, well, just product. JULY Vince Gill, "The Key," MCA Nashville.

For all the massive sales punch of country music in the '90s, there haven't been many great albums out of Nashville. But there are two in this edition of Calendar's guide to keeping up with what's exciting in pop on an album budget of $50 a month. Steve Earle and Gillian Welch, however, aren't pure country artists--they draw upon folk and rock in ways that make country radio programmers suspicious. Don't make the same mistake. March Steve Earle, "I Feel Alright," E-Squared/Warner Bros.

"CASSADAGA," the new album from Bright Eyes, is the bestselling new title on the nation's album charts, debuting at No. 4 with 58,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music retail sales. Bright Eyes is the shifting collective led by Conor Oberst, the 27-year-old Nebraska songwriter who is the latest in a long line of folk-leaning artists who have been saddled with the label of the "next Bob Dylan." This album features M.

Context can be funny. Singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia's albums type her as an acoustic, American chamber-music cousin of P.J. Harvey for the songs' dark hues and emotional depths -- a comparison made even readier by the fact that her producer is Steve Albini, who also worked with Harvey.

With Scott Weiland in jail for violations of his drug conviction parole, the rest of Stone Temple Pilots will do an early celebration of the Oct. 26 release of their fourth album, "No. 4," by performing songs from the rock musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," backing its writer and original star John Cameron Mitchell in a private party on Sept. 21 at the new Hollywood club Vynyl. . . .

One of the best ways for singers to pay back the veteran artists who inspired them is to simply mention the artists in interviews. Imagine all the country fans who have been turned on to the music of Lefty Frizzell over the years by Merle Haggard's frequent references to him as the greatest of all country singers. The same for Emmylou Harris' frequent comments about the inspiring work of Gram Parsons and the Louvin Brothers.