Various Artists

Johnny Cash listened to John Prine songs for inspiration; Bob Dylan called them “Midwestern mind trips to the nth degree.” Letting loose a new generation of rock-folk-country misfits like My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Deer Tick is a great idea. The tunes are personalised with minor mutations, capturing the sort of signature life-affirming darkness epitomised in a couplet from ”˜Six O’Clock News’ (covered by Lambchop): “His brains were on the sidewalk and blood was on his shoes/C’mon, baby, spend the night with me.”

Key Tracks: “Mexican Home,” “Spanish Pipedream”