Theatrical Scottish band The Fratellis scored a minor hit in ’06 with “Chelsea Dagger,” a sing-songy ditty that packs a whimsical punch, and they’ve been trying to recapture the moment ever since. Five albums later with “Half Drunk Under A Full Moon” (Cooking Vinyl UK), the band has released a delectable collection of 10 songs inspired by ’60s girl group doo-wop. The title track is lush and ethereal, bursting with the color of cymbal crashing and castanets, as the band sings, “And they all got down to the Cinderella quick step/In living color cheekbones like Johnny Depp.” “The Last Songbird” is as catchy as they come, with a hooky chorus while the jubilant first single, “Six Days in June” blasts with enough horns and “oh yeahs” to keep the crowd buzzing. “Drunk” was postponed like many another record, due to the pandemic and it seems like that unintentional strategy paid off, as other singles like “Action Replay” and “Need A Little Love” gave fans a few tastes. It’s hard to sell an album that pays homage to the likes of Neil Diamond and Anthony Newley, but somehow the Fratellis manage to do that with ease. This is a band that has not only survived, but it’s also thrived.

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Hokey country music is usually something you poke with a stick, but Sturgill Simpson’s “Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 2 (Cowboy Arms Sessions)” (High Top Mountain Records), is pure bluegrass boogie.

The deal was that Simpson promised his fans that he would release two bluegrass albums (he did). Through 12 tracks and just about 40 minutes, Simpson delights here as he romps through tracks like he’s doing donuts with a riding mower. The opener “Call to Arms,” sounds like vintage backing music to a Burt Reynolds/Smokie car chase. And that’s not a bad thing. Elsewhere on the album, Simpson continues to pick up the pace and ever-so-often drop it on its head. The mandolin-laced “Brace for Impact,” is a quieter, head-bobber; “Oh Sarah” is better than the original, here more somber and erstwhile; and “Sea Stories” is a fun singalong, with the harmonizing of The Hillbilly Avengers” (as they’re now officially dubbed) is a nice touch to close the song. The standout is “Hero,” a sweet tribute from Simpson to his grandfather, and it’s only appropriate the song gets the bluegrass treatment since he’s the one who introduced Simpson to bluegrass. “Vol 2″ is a stellar record, often funny, other times moving. Regardless of whether you like him or not, Simpson has proved to be one of the most interesting songwriters out of the last decade.

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Demi Lovato has made it rather public that she’s fought addiction and depression since being a Disney channel kid, but channels her personal struggles into “Dancing with the Devil. … The Art of Starting Over” (Island), takes control of the narrative. The album will likely strike a chord with listeners who have been through similar circumstances. “Lonely People,” is for stadium singalong status with a chorus that name-drops Romeo and Juliette. The power ballad “Anyone” finds Lovato searching for solace but comes up short. “A hundred million stories/And a hundred million songs/I feel stupid when I sing/Nobody is listening to me” she belts. Like other songstresses of her generation, a media blitz of confessional interviews and a companion documentary accompanied the release of “Dancing” and you feel like you’ve walked in on an awkward conversation. This is her redemption album, and no one should take that away from her. But conversely, with the diaristic nature of the music, it’s hard to see where the person ends and the artist begins. She’s been through the ringer, no doubt. But listening to this record, it’s hard to figure out how she wants to begin again.

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Country crooner Eric Church returns with the gimmicky “Heart” “&” “Soul,” a triple-album set of records released on his label Big EC Records. The middle album is available exclusively to the Church Choir fan club, only as a vinyl record. Each album contains eight songs for the 24-song compilation that Church cranked out with producer Jay Joyce and backing vocalist Joanna Cotton during a 28-day recording session he spent in the mountains of North Carolina. “I wanted to make people really uncomfortable,” Church has said about making “Heart” “&” “Soul.” Odd marketing technique but his creative boot camp, and this, his “favorite project ever,” nets some gain for Church, who had been thrown off his game by the Route 91 Harvest Festival massacre in Las Vegas, where he had headlined two days before the domestic terrorist opened fire on the crowd, killing 58; he underwent emergency surgery to prevent a life-threatening blood clot, which cost him a rib in the process; and he lost his brother Brandon suddenly at the age of 36. On the collection, there are bar-band anthems “Heart on Fire” and “Love Shine Down,” to “Doing Life with Me,” a meditation on his marriage. If you’re not a big fan of therapy rock, you might find this project a bit forward; on the other hand, it’s filter-free and unhinged.

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