The journey to becoming a celebrity rock band comes through on Kings of Leon's seventh studio album, 'WALLS,' as Caleb Followill sings about life on the road like it's a scene from a blockbuster romance.

There is something about the human voice and simple accompaniment in its unadorned form with no electronic enhancements, and it works particularly well on Conor Oberst's solo album, 'Ruminations,' a poetic batch of songs that appear to focus on the darker and more fragile side of the human condition.

With a bounce in his step and a mandolin under his arm, Chris Thile walked across the Fitzgerald Theater stage as host of A Prairie Home Companion on Saturday, his first show as Garrison Keillor's successor.

Phantogram's music sounds like a movie soundtrack. If this were a movie, its characters would be marked by grief and torn apart by darkness. Confusing emotional ground forced Phantogram to dig deep on 'Three'.

The Drive-By Truckers are an outspoken Southern band with progressive ideas, and with their latest record, they show they're not afraid to to let you know their feelings about inequality, racism, gun violence and police brutality. 'American Band' is being called their most political album to date; it's timely and most certainly a protest record.

While it's fair to say that '22, A Million' is experimental in nature, it is still, at its core, a Bon Iver record. There are quiet, heart-rending moments, there are epic moments, and one of the album's defining characteristics is that it rewards repeat listens.

Will Toledo's Matador Records debut exhibits a rugged individualism underneath a preppy swagger that comes through on songs that are completely unapologetic. The album invokes a DIY aesthetic reminiscent of the early '90s, without being contrived or overtly trying to sound like grunge.

The Head and the Heart moved away from 'folksiness' to embrace a bigger, bolder musical vision -- one filled with louder guitars, heavier rhythms and bigger arrangements, all encased in gorgeous vocal harmonies that evoke artists like Lucius, the Staves, and classic artists like Crosby Stills and Nash, and Fleetwood Mac.

Wilco have become as unpredictable as Neil Young; you never know what's next musically. On their latest album, 'Schmilco', Wilco bring a spare, almost 'unplugged' set of songs. Wilco have been a steady unit for more than a decade, and they are firing on all cylinders.

Glass Animals' frontman Dave Bayley created characters from little snippets of stories he was hearing from people he's encountered on tour. The result is an album of songs based on those stories.