Kevin Bryan delivers his verdict on some of this week's CD releases.

Lynne Hanson,"Just Words" (Self-released)- Ottawa born singer-songwriter Lynne Hanson has made quite an impact on the Canadian music fraternity since her debut set,"Things I Miss," first saw the light of day in 2006, and her seventh studio album,"Just Words," supplies an ideal showcase for Lynne's compellingly well crafted blend of blues, folk and country influences. The opening track, "True Blue Moon," is a genuine show stopper, setting the ball rolling in fine style as Hanson delivers her uptempo riposte to Jacques Brel's classic "Ne Me Quitte Pas," musing on the perils of falling for a poet and just how elusive true love really can be.

Ashley Hutchings,"Paradise and Thorns" (Talking Elephant)- Folk luminary Ashley Hutchings' 1987 album,"By Gloucester Docks I sat down and wept" is widely recognised as a classic of the genre, and the great man has now decided to revisit this melancholy small town love story via an attractively packaged two CD set which blends old and new material with archive recordings, dramatic readings and audio film clips. The finished product should be required listening for roots music enthusiasts everywhere, with the freshly minted "Thirty-Two Years And A Lifetime" and "Devil-may-care in our dancing shoes" emerging as the musical highlights, both of them penned in collaboration with Ashley's son, Blair Dunlop.

Billy Joe Shaver,"The Collection"(Floating World)- Outlaw country singer Billy Joe Shaver was already in his mid thirties when his debut set," Old Five & Dimers Like Me" first appeared on the scene in 1973, and this excellent offering is the centrepiece of Floating World's new 2 CD retrospective, sitting snugly alongside three complete albums which emerged from the talented Texan's sojourn with Columbia Records a decade or so later. The criminally under-rated Shaver has suffered more than his fair share of trials and tribulations over the years , giving his work a deliciously honest and world weary quality which prompted Willie Nelson to describe him as "maybe the best songwriter alive today" and Kris Kristofferson to compare him to the similarly hard living Ernest Hemingway.