Kevin Bryan delivers his verdict on some of this week's CD releases Watkins Family Hour,"Brother Sister" (Family Hour / Thirty Tigers)-Grammy Award winning siblings Sara and Sean Watkins have finally found the time to record the eagerly anticipated follow up to 2015's critically acclaimed debut set,"Watkins Family Hour," and the finished product is as fine an example of understated Americana as you could ever wish to hear.The subtle interplay between Sean's guitar and Sara's eloquent fiddle is a joy to behold throughout a largely reflective and self-penned set which also boasts an exquisite cover of the late lamented Warren Zevon's "Accidentally Like A Martyr."

The Strokes,"The New Abnormal" (Cult Records/Columbia)- The New York indie rockers return to the fray after a seven year absence with the release of the Rick Rubin produced "The New Abnormal," the group's sixth studio album and arguably their finest offering since their creative heyday almost two decades ago. The musical content betrays the influence of everyone from Tom Petty to New Order and Tom Verlaine's Television as vocalist Julian Casablancas and his cohorts serve up potential crowd pleasers such as "Bad Decisions," "Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus" and "Not The Same Anymore."

David Blue,"These 23 Days in September/Stories/Nice Baby and the Angel/Cupid's Arrow" (Morello/Cherry Red) -The latest 2 CD retrospective from the good people at Cherry Red focusses attention on the criminally under-rated creative output of gifted Greenwich Village folkie David Blue. Best remembered these days for penning "Outlaw Man" for The Eagles' 1973 album,"Desperado", Blue's own recordings for the Reprise and Asylum labels during the sixties and early seventies still repay closer investigation, and four of his finest albums are gathered together here. Poetic introspection is very much the order of the day as Blue weaves his melancholy narratives aided and abetted by top notch sidemen such as Ry Cooder, David Lindley and Graham Nash.