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Listening through Lost in the Dream is like one of those hidden pictures images where you can pick out the influences (intended or not) in each song. From Bruce Springsteen to Rod Stewart to Bob Dylan to more obscure touchpoints like The Hooters and 10cc, this album is like wall-to-wall carpeting (in a good way) -- consistent and comforting throughout.

For some strange reason the pedal steel guitar never quite caught on as a jazz instrument. Maybe not enough people heard Steel Guitar Jazz. Highlighted by a chiming version of "Where or When," this bright and twangy album is a terrific intersection between smart jazz and traditional American folk music.

As gruff around the edges as Drive-By Truckers but sweet and soaring like My Morning Jacket. At times it feels like Flying Burrito Brothers, "Being There"-era Wilco or side 2 of "Exile on Main Street."

An inauspicious but sweet debut, Weathervanes is twee and precious but the soundscapes under the lyrics help to set it apart from its peers. Chiming bells and droning electronics fade into street sounds and humming voices, moving from electronic to organic often within the same verse. Perfect for spring mornings when the windows can finally be opened.

This stark and haunting album documents Buckner's heartache through darkened rooms and dusty midnight backroads. Orchestrated sparsely by acoustic instruments and unconventional arrangements, Devotion + Doubt hums and thrums through my speakers each autumn.

Swaggering and punching above its weight, Transgressor is filled with fuzzed-out guitars and overdriven drums, with organ hums and top-of-the-lung-shouting vocals while still maintaining a tunefulness and sense of melody.

Along the likes of Spoon, Foo Fighters and The Whigs, Quiet Company are an actual rock band that hits hard with their hearts on their sleeves, and they cranked out an underappreciated set of tunes on this 2015 record.

Just like Bernardo Bertolucci's film is beautiful to watch, the soundtrack is a joy to listen to. The songs, drifting from moody trip hop to gritty blues to charming indie pop, are all painted the same atmospheric color. If nothing else, the album should be appreciated for Hooverphonic's leadoff track which samples Isaac Hayes' "Walk on By" from his 1969 Stax album Hot Buttered Soul and is an underrated gem of trip-hop's golden era.

If the sound of flutes in jazz brings to mind Ron Burgundy's flamethrowing freakout jam session in Anchorman, you may want to listen in on Matt Eakle's understated debut. Eakle spent nine years with the rootsy David Grisman Quintet,and his warm, folky take on jazz makes the perfect soundtrack for a sunny fall day.

Not much is known about cowboy crooner Elton Britt, but what he left behind is more than just cardboard-cutout western music. The highlight of this RCA collection is "Chime Bells," the bright and melodious yodel in which Britt sings one of the longest-held high pitched notes in the genre.

Seriously. Like you're wondering when the note will actually end. And then, it keeps going. Highly recommended.

Mazzy Star's third album landed with a bit of a limp thud after the lightning success of "Fade Into You" didn't strike twice, but Among My Swan is full of the same sweet atmospheric swirl that their earlier albums exuded. The leadoff track "Disappear" chimes and soothes with the best of the band's catalog.