John Prine with Iris Dement - "In Spite of Ourselves". A dirty valentine. Earnest, rosy, stained as an old pillow. If you like country songs, sweethearts, lewd embroidery, The Muppet Show, and voices like peat or bourbon - well, you'll like this. Put it on repeat and grab your pal, hop up on the end of a rainbow. Start counting anniversaries. Smoke. [buy]

Richard and Linda Thompson - "Withered and Died". And as an antidote to all of today's cozy and darling, one of the saddest songs i know. "Withered and Died" is just heartbreak after heartbreak, doom after doom, floods and widowings, all of them sung in Linda Thompson's lovely voice. Shambling drums, lazy bass, an acoustic guitar - if you send this floating out on the breeze, keep watch - wait for the lovers to begin to sway. Watch them sway, those stupid romantics, to the saddest song you've got. Richard's guitar solo is pure perseverance - going on, going on, still making rhymes after so much catastrophe. [buy]

(image by Sea Hyun Lee)