Album: The Sacred Shakers, The Sacred Shakers (Signature Sounds)

There is no Americana unless there is God, and a Protestant, home-lovin' God at that.

Here is a bunch of dudes from the Boston area getting down and dusty with the great American country-gospel tradition. They're augmented on several fronts, not least in the person of Eileen Jewell, whose voice is all sepia and oil and in tune only 98 per cent of the time, as is proper. This surely ain't the black Pentecostal church. No one is speaking in tongues and the spirit of Little Richard is silent. Instead we get banjos and songs by George Jones, Hank Williams and Trad Anon, and we thank Jesus to a choogling shufflebeat.

Pick of the Album: 'I'm Gonna Do My Best': ...and let Jesus do the rest