It proves one shouldn't have expectations. You see a mandolin, you think "bluegrass," right? In Ellison Starr's case, it's more of a blue herring, as their mindful acoustic music repels traditional stereotypes. Of course, they've done their homework with carefully chosen chords in the spirit of Page or Gilmour.

Dave Ellison (mandolin) and Gian Starr (guitar) met in 1999 at SUNY New Paltz, where casual hellos led to non-stop sessions. After casting off various bands (The Whiter Side of Trash, The They), the duo became serious, writing and performing together in every coffee-den and beer garden along the Walkill. Bassist-about-town Chris Macchia led them to Leopard Studio in Stone Ridge, where together they created what producer Jimi Goodman described as "perhaps the most pristine CD ever recorded here."

The 11 tracks drift from blue-eyed folk (featuring Starr's husky vocals) to minor-key delirium where the mandolin ticks like a clock. The opening appetizer, "Crayfish," has flavor, but the next several—"Leave It All Behind," "Fading So Fast," and "Space Ghost"—expose the CDs atmospheric confessions. Two nods to the old school are the two-steppin' "Even in LA," and one cover, an adaptation of the traditional "Deep Elem Blues." Take It With You isn't blue-, green-, or brown- grass, but a spectrum of their many moods. www.ellisonstarr.com.

With a voice that sounds like the lovechild of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, singer John Pietaro leads his Flames of Discontent through Industrial Workers of the World standards and prose pieces on their new CD, I Dreamed I Heard Joe Hill Last Night: A Century of IWW Song. A union-organizer by day, Pietaro is a noted multi-instrumentalist who has performed with such geniuses as Pete Seeger and Allen Ginsberg as a tireless advocate for the dignity of working men and women (a portion of this CD's proceeds go to the IWW).

With one Pietaro-penned exception, the newest song was written in 1917, but there's no dusty antiquity in either lyrical substance (workers' battles with big business) or musical style (powerful '50s-based rock and roll with a touch of folk, country, and punk). Anchored by the transfixing melodic basslines of Laurie Towers, Pietaro's rallying cries are heightened by a band cooking with the heartfelt passion of making kick-ass music for the masses. Between such rousing anthems as "Workingfolk Unite," "Rebel Girl," and "Bread and Roses," there are three dramatic readings from IWW archives depicting workers' and activists' struggles.

A timely, noble work fighting the good fight and rocking what's right.

"Read myths," advised Joseph Campbell. "They teach you that you can turn inward." Thanks to Campbell, ancient myths continue to shape modern lives. But danged if many of us can remember most myths' strange, difficult to pronounce gods' monikers, and complicated plots. So Nick Humez, a professor at Montclair State University, put myths to music and sang them to his student. He recently recorded 17 songs about the major players of Western mythology.

Humez's "myth songs" range in style from calypso to troubadour ballad. Recorded at Sonart Recording Studios in Mount Tremper, the songs feature several locals: Ken Lovelett on drums and "rain wheel," Eric Weisberg on banjo, and Pete Levin as pianist and sound engineer. Although Humez's self-described "little ditties" are charmingly irreverent and painstakingly detailed, they lack the zaniness and edginess that makes other contemporary musical interpretations of the classics, like John Wesley Harding's "Hamlet," so compelling. Nonetheless, Humez manages to present the gods ("randy Zeus") as plain folks whose actions ("Now jealous Hera drove him mad/And made him kill his kids, sir") are easily memorable. www.mythsongs.com