NPR Music

Texas native Kat Edmonson possesses astonishing vocal control: She glides effortlessly between tones, and can move from a lilting falsetto to a raspy growl with ease. Her debut album, 2009's Take to the Sky, finds her exploring the roots of classic pop and jazz songs — an approach she continues on its sequel, this year's Way Down Low.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall. That old expression came to mind when I read the headline of a recent press release:

'Grand Funk Railroad, Boston, Kansas at Aberdeen Proving Ground, August 11'

Matt Nathanson performed this set for Mountain Stage, recorded live in West Virginia, back in December 2007. The singer, who was born in Massachusetts but now lives in San Francisco, began writing songs in high school, and made his first record while attending college in 1993. He's recorded seven studio albums since — the latest of which, Modern Love, came out last year.

Apart from Rubber Soul by The Beatles, there weren't any big winners in last week's poll, the latest in our summer-long attempt to identify the albums we can all agree on.