A songwriter supergroup & more new music

Think of three singer-songwriters from Nova Scotia getting together and you might imagine an acoustic folk trio. But Port Cities is something different. When Carleton Stone, Dylan Guthro and Breagh MacKinnon turned a shared experience at a songwriting camp into a collaboration, they truly created a band. From their backgrounds writing and performing in various styles - jazz, folk, soul, R&B - they've developed a seamless blend of intelligent pop. They recently rolled out their debut album, just played a couple of shows at Canadian Music Week in Toronto and have several gigs in Great Britain during May before they head home to tour the Maritimes. It was hard to pick just one track to feature in our New Music bin this week. We're going with "Sound Of Your Voice," but you'll be hearing more of the album in our big mix.

Jumping down to the Southern U.S., we catch up with The Weeks, an indie outfit originally from Jackson, Mississippi. They're now part of the growing Nashville scene of Southern-flavored indie rock. Easy is the band's fifth release, counting albums and EPs, but the first to reach our ears. We're spinning the lead track, "Talk Like That."

Also hailing from Nashville, although traveling in different musical circles, is singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle. His music blends elements of folk, blues and country, with lyrics that take a very idiosyncratic, often sardonic view of life. His newest collection, Kids in the Street, is due later this month. We're featuring a fun number about a cool girl in a decidedly uncool car, a "Champagne Corolla."

It's about time we pulled out some more tracks from the excellent new album from Chicago's The Right Now. You've been hearing us play "Too Late" for the past several weeks, and now we're featuring our new favorite, "Love You Better." More tracks from Starlight will be popping up in our mix as well.

And we're picking up the first single from the upcoming 311 album, Mosaic. It's called "Too Much To Think," and we think the lyrics are about a relationship that's become strained by interpersonal issues. Sure, that's what it means. But concert audiences might have something else in mind as they sing along with the refrain "Cuz I wanna get high/But you're keeping me low."