Brit Scoops’ "American Cheese" turns a missed plan, a bad mood and a late drink into invitations to stay at the table a little longer. This 10-track debut puts country, Americana, alt-country and melodic pop-rock in the same room, then lets warmth and melancholy argue over the aux. The result is pitched as funny, tender and just off-kilter enough to keep its heartache from becoming...

Some songs are like a time machine. You press play, and suddenly you’re somewhere else, some other time. Maybe it’s a smoky bar in the 1970s, a sweaty punk club in the 80s, or, in the case of “Oh Denise,” the new single from Ken Woods and The Old Blue Gang, a dusty dancehall on the outskirts of Austin, Texas, sometime in the not-too-distant past. The...