Artist:	Title:	Label/Due date:
Amusement Parks on Fire	"Out of the Angeles" (Hear here)	(U.K. - V2, July 3, 2006)
Banca De Gaia	"Farewell Ferengistan"	(Six Degrees, July 4, 2006)
Blackbud	"From the Sky" (producer: Youth; first single: "Barefoot Dancing"; Hear here)	(U.K. - Independiente, July 3, 2006)
Blow Up Hollywood	"The Diaries of Private Henry Hill [CD/DVD]" (based on the journal entries of a U.S. soldier killed in the Iraq war; Hear here)	(MJ12 Music, July 4, 2006)
Johnny Cash	"American V: A Hundred Highways" (producer: Rick Rubin; Hear here; see related CD below)	(American/Lost Highway, July 4, 2006)

BTW: Cash, who died on Sept. 12, 2003, and Rubin began recording the songs for "American V: A Hundred Highways" in 2002. The songs are as eclectic an assortment as any on the previous albums in the "American" series: "Help Me," a poignant plea to God, the hauntingly beautiful ballad "If You Could Read My Mind," "God's Gonna Cut You Down," a traditional spiritual, the touching "Love's Been Good To Me," the heartrending "On the Evening Train," and "Further On (Up the Road)" are among the tracks on the new album. Songwriters for the tracks run the gamut from Hank Williams to Rod McKuen to Bruce Springsteen. In addition, two original Cash compositions are featured, "Like the 309" and "I Came to Believe."

Peter Gammons (yes, the baseball analyst)	"Never Slow Down, Never Grow Old" (guests: George Thorogood, Juliana Hatfield, former Letters to Cleo member Kay Handley)	(Rounder, July 4, 2006)
Rodney Jerkins (producer)	"Versatility" (instrumental album; Read here)	(Darkchild/Bungalo/Universal, July 4, 2006)
Ziggy Marley	"Love Is My Religion" (Read here)	(Tuff Gong, July 4, 2006 - to be sold exclusively in Target stores)
Mark McGuinn	"One Man's Crazy" (producer: McGuinn; Hear here)	(Blue Flamingo/Bayside Entertainment, July 4, 2006)
Alice Peacock	"Who I Am" (producer: Andrew Williams; Hear/read here)	(Peacock Music, July 4, 2006)

BTW: For "Who I Am," Peacock tells P&P that she aimed "to simply let the music take the lead and let it become what it was to become. Andrew Williams and I sorted through tons of songs to arrive at the ones on 'Who I Am.' Our criteria was if it moved us in some way and was honest then it was considered. If it was a pop smash but didn't make us feel anything then it was tossed out. We didn't consider radio play or time limits; we just recorded them the way we felt them."

That includes offering up strings - a rarity these days in the pop world. "I think a lot of folks don't put strings on records as much anymore because it requires arranging talent, it costs more money and frankly strings need space to 'breathe' in the music and so much of today's music is pro-tooled and produced within an inch of its life and there's no space," Peacock says. "People also think it's easier to fall back on samples and loops and such to add depth or character to the sound instead of organic wooden instruments. Many of our favorite pop records gained great warmth from strings, and Andrew and I loved that sound!"

Rise Against	"The Sufferer & The Witness" (producers: Bill Stevenson, Jason Livermore; Hear here; Read here)	(Geffen, July 4, 2006)
Various artists	"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest [film soundtrack]" (sequel, starring Johnny Depp, opens July 7; See here)	(Walt Disney, July 4, 2006)
Walls of Jericho	"With Devils Amongst Us" (producer: Ben Schigel; Hear here)	(U.K. - Trustkill, July 3, 2006)