Keen, Giddens spearhead new releases

Robert Earl Keen is out with "Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions." He is best known for his Texas singer/songwriter efforts, but Keen wanted to be in a small room full of bluegrass picking as he says in the liner notes. Players included Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek on fiddle and Kym Warner of The Greencards on mandolin.

Rhiannon Giddens helped start Carolina Chocolate Drops, paying homage to black string band music sometimes going back to the 19th century. Here, she is out on her own with "Tomorrow Is My Turn," opting for a variety of styles. T Bone Burnett produced the music, which includes songs made famous by Patsy Cline, Odetta, Dolly Parton and Nina Simone.

Blackberry Smoke drops its fourth disc, "Holding All the Roses" and first on Rounder after being with Zac Brown Band's Southern Ground. The southern band has seen its career go in a steady upward arc.

6 String Drag is a Knoxville-based band that we last heard from 18 years ago. Kenny Roby wrote all of the songs for the band on "Roots Rock 'N' Roll." The band's last disc was "High Hat" in 1997.

Love and Theft is doing things a lot differently with "Whiskey on My Breath." The duo of Stephen Barker Lyles and Eric Gunderson go the acoustic route on a self-released disc after two albums. The group scored a number 1 hit in 2011 with "Angel Eyes," but were eventually dropped by Sony.