Popicana Roundup.

Three Americana-inflected but still poptastic releases:

High on Stress-Cop Light Parade. If Jay Farrar worked with Paul Westerberg in Uncle Tupelo instead of Jeff Tweedy, this is how they would have sounded. In fact, some of frontman/songwriter Nick Leet's song titles recall Westerberg's wit and wordplay ("White Sugar", "My White Pages", "Trample With Care", "We Could Have Been Nobody", "Tomorrow Is Coming at a Bad Time", just to name five). Mixing Americana with pop and rock in a distinctively Minneapolis manner, High on Stress also mix in a Stonesish sound at times (the aforementioned "White Sugar", of course), as well as the roots pop of a Walter Clevenger. There's a real uniformity of quality to all the tracks here, and if your tastes run in this area, you'll definitely want this one.

CD Baby | MySpace

The Karg Bros-What We Do to Ourselves. This Nashville duo (yes, they are actual brothers) compare themselves to a cross between The Everly Brothers and Coldplay, and on leadoff track "Letting Go" (as well as the title track), they pull it off. For the most part though, this is high-quality melodic roots pop that leans more to the Everlys than Coldplay. "Can't Make My Heart Behave" is right up the alley of Bill Lloyd, "Sweetie" is all pedal steel and sweet harmonies, "Livin' Fast, Lovin' Slow" has a Tom Petty vibe, and closer "So Many Ways" recalls the early Eagles. An extremely promising record.

CD Baby | MySpace

The Daylight Titans-Boom & Chime. I don't know if there's such a thing as "hard roots rock", but if there is these Texans fit the description. With a driving power pop undercurrent, they call to mind early REM, The Hoodoo Gurus, The Church, and The Replacements, while lead singer Andy Smith has a similar vocal sound to the previously mentioned Jay Farrar. Highlights include the opener "Bathed In Light", the hard-driving "Between Joy and Faith", and "What Did I Say?", and the disc should hold appeal for those intrigued by the High on Stress disc above. (Note: it's a digital-only download available through CD Baby)

CD Baby | MySpace