Tony Peyser
Mirror contributing writer

Country rocker Joe Ely has a new CD chronicling his usual assortment of fugitives, hustlers and dreamers. For good measure, Streets Of Sin also tosses in some carnival bums, racetrack regulars and even people facing a major flood. That last group is especially telling, as Ely often writes about folks heading for some kind of higher ground. (Maybe that’s because the town he’s from, Lubbock, is so darn flat.) In 1995, Bruce Springsteen sang backup on a classic Ely song, “All Just To Get To You.” I won’t be surprised someday to hear The Boss take a whack at Ely’s title track here. I discovered on MapQuest that the “Streets of Sin” stretch all the way from Abilene to Asbury Park.

Joe Mannix’s White Flag has a seductive dreaminess like Gary Jules’ Trading Snakeoil For Wolftickets. They’re two of the best singer-songwriters in New York and Los Angeles respectively. Mannix crafts smart songs which are easy on the ear as they address matters of the heart. I kept hearing “Bellerose Hill” in my head even when it wasn’t in my CD player. It’s about a guy who stopped dating someone but thinks he keeps seeing her all over town. (Yeah, like you never felt like that.) The wounded “Bellerose Hill” and the title track are memorable calling cards. White flags are traditionally flown as surrender but fans of alternative-pop will want to salute this one crafted by Mannix.

Wayne Hancock’s sixth CD, the live Swing Time, is old school country with Western swing and rockabilly sewn onto the front of its beer-stained cowboy shirt. A true keeper of the Lone Star flame, he does for traditional Texas music what Big Sandy does for the Bakersfield sound. Hancock can write a bit, too as “Highway 54” shows with its car crash finale to a cheatin’ story. It’s like 1950s sex ed and driving training films spliced together and set to a honky tonk beat. Now, there’s something you don’t hear every day.

The famed Windy City bluesman Magic Sam died at 32 in 1969. Rockin’ Wild In Chicago is an unfiltered jolt of electric blues. It’s culled from four live performances in the 1960s and the last show has this unusual credit: unknown bass and drums. That omission is in keeping with this unpolished, primitive recording. The last track, the raw “Rockin’ Wild,” is a rip-snorting blues slap to every rough edge that was ever smoothed over.

Amazon has Streets Of Sin for $13.99, White Flag for $15.98, Swing Time for $13.98 and Rockin’ Wild In Chicago for $14.98.

*No Goofy Band Name this week. I suggest you track down a version of Nick Lowe’s haunting song “The Beast In Me” which you may have heard on The Sopranos.

Lowe showed the song for years to his ex-father-in-law who kept telling him it wasn’t quite right. Finally, he said it was. The guy even wound up memorably singing it himself. His name was Johnny Cash.