There's a curious jolt in hearing a title like "Us Against The World" from an act called The Cockney Cowboy. The name itself is a glorious contradiction, a pairing of gritty East London reality with the wide-open romance of Nashville. You half expect a joke, but what Justin Vella delivers is a dead-serious, straight-shooting country ballad that smells less of hay bales and more...

To take on a song so woven into the cultural fabric requires a certain nerve, but Annika Bellamy’s new single, a remake of "Come and Get Your Love," feels less like a cover and more like an inheritance. With her uncle, T-Bone Bellamy, having been the lightning-rod guitarist for Redbone, and founding member Pat Vegas sanctioning this version, the track arrives with a heavy,...