Available now. Dee left college and began making trips to Tennessee, where he found another mentor in Dan Auerbach. Together, the two co-wrote a number of new songs, often teaming up with additional composers in town. Allison Krauss sings on four songs, lending her gossamer harmonies to album standouts like "Bucket of Bolts" and "Tell the World I Do. " A world-class vocalist, she found a kindred spirit in the 19 year-old Dee, whose unforced vibrato and effortless tone floored her. During one recording session, she pointed to Dee in the vocal booth and announced, "From now on, you only sing with me. " Not bad for a Nashville newcomer. "It would be two of us," Dee remembers, "and Dan would rotate these other writers - all older guys who loved classic music - in and out of the writing room every day. Each write would be completely different, which is why each song on the album sounds so unique. "Eventually, they whittled down the list of songs to two-dozen finalists. They then recorded all twenty-four songs in two weeks, using Auerbach's studio - Easy Eye Sound, a playground of vintage gear and analog equipment - as their home base. View all titles by this artist

March 22 street date. On It's Real, the group's second album, Ex Hex's commitment to larger-than-life riffs and unforgettable hooks remains intact, but the garage-y, post-punk approach that defined their debut album Rips has grown in scale and ambition. What started as a reaction to the blown-out aesthetic of Rips would test the sonic limits of the power trio and lead the band on a quest for a more immersive and three-dimensional sound. Vocal harmonies are layered ten tracks deep, solos shimmer and modulate atop heaving power chords, and the codas linger and stretch toward new frontiers of sound. On first listen, you might think you've unearthed a long-lost LP carved from the space where crunch-minded art rock and glitter-covered hard rock converge, an event horizon at the intersection of towering choruses and swaggering guitars. Ex Hex were already one of America's best guitar bands-but on It's Real, their musical savvy has thrillingly combined with anything-goes curiosity, studio experimentation, and a dedication to refinement, resulting in an album that's ready to be played at maximum volume. View all titles by this artist

Merge Records was started in the summer of 1989, by Laura Ballance & Mac McCaughan, the same summer they formed the band Superchunk in Chapel Hill, NC. The first couple releases were cassettes (remember those?), by WWAX and Bricks, followed by the first Superchunk (then known only as "Chunk") 7" single. The vinyl 7" was the format of choice for the first 3 years of the label, with cash borrowed from friends to finance projects (including singles from Erectus Monotone, Angels of Epistemology, and more Superchunk) and bedrooms serving as Merge HQ until 1992, when the first Merge full-length release, Tossing Seeds by Superchunk, was released on CD, LP, and cassette. With this release Merge also forged a relationship with Touch and Go Records of Chicago, who have done an admirable job manufacturing and distributing the bulk of Merge's full-length releases since then. Since '92 Merge moved from one charming-yet-run-down office to another until 2001, when we finally made the move from Chapel Hill down the road to a fine old building all our own in historic Downtown Durham, NC. In 2004 Merge Records is celebrating its 15th birthday, and while our roster has changed, rotated, permutated and expanded over the last 15 years, the quality we look for in records as fans is still there in the music we put out on Merge. Thanks for listening! View all artists from this label