Various Artists: Loverly Music: The Singles (1995-1996)

Memphis, as most music fans know, is a better town than most in which to run a record label. Home at various times to both Sun and Stax in their heyday, the city has produced a good chunk of the best American music since World War II—a good deal of it, amazingly, locally based. To compare the output of the Memphis-based indie label Loverly to those that came before it is, of course, not only premature but inaccurate: Loverly doesn't have as distinctive a sound as Stax and Sun, but it does have its own feel. As this second compilation of singles indicates, Ed Porter, who occasionally records under the nickname Nick Name, seems to run things with an anything-goes-as-long-as-it's-good philosophy. Consequently, Loverly is home to acts as diverse as the Uncle Tupelo-esque Professor Elixir's Southern Troubadours, the pure rock of Greg Hisky Rhythm Method, and the humorous instrumentals of The Young Seniors. Though not every track is as memorable as "Come In, Miss Sarajevo" by Kid Blue, almost all are worth a listen, and for those interested in hearing a cross-section of one of the most promising little labels around, it's worth picking up. It sure beats tracking down and carrying around all those 45s—or, worse yet, not finding out about them until it's too late. (Loverly Music, Inc., PO Box 382514, Memphis, TN 38183)