Martha Wainwright

With a razor-tongued set of tunes about both sides of betrayal, Martha's second LP might finally push her out of the shadows of her family and her marquee collaborators. In a scratchy soprano (a gift of the McGarrigle genes perhaps) she'll sing about seducing your husband or a junkie's rendezvous -- and demand that we all "shut up" while she does it. Sure, 15 tracks later the gush can get a bit overwrought (a gift of the Wainwright genes perhaps), but she's got confidence and good taste to spare -- the Floyd cover flaunts both.

Part of Martha Wainwright's charm lies in her Tourette's-like impulse to overshare: Check
out her 2005 ode to her singer-songwriter dad, Loudon, lovingly titled "Bloody Mother
Fucking Asshole." Her folky second album mostly spares family members, but old
boyfriends aren't so lucky. On the dusty-road rocker "Comin' Tonight," she seeks revenge
on a musician/ex-lover: "I could steal a melody. . . . 'Cause you would never sue... More >