Clich??d or not, the back cover photograph--with the songwriter, guitar slung over his shoulder, thumbing it along a desert highway--is the perfect image for Mike Morris' new collection, What Have I Done? The album's stripped-down acoustic songs (recorded live with guitar and vocals, and without overdubbing) are shaped around the inquisitive Morris' deliberations and meditations. They cohere but in a random, unintentional sort of way, like Polaroids scattered through a hitchhiker's scrapbook. These fragments reveal a picture of a thoughtful, yearning everyman, whose mind is both musing and amusing in equal measure. Pinning the pensive ("Who's Sorry Now") and the utterly silly ("TV Song") to the same page are Morris's signature catchy melodies, athletic wordplay and percussive guitar style.

Pennies, the second solo effort from longtime Devonsquare member and North Conway native Tom Dean, is, as one might expect from his past work, an exquisitely produced collection of contemporary folk. Working once again with lyricist and writing partner George Wardell and a crack team of session musicians, the fair-voiced tenor has assembled a mature m??lange of songs that politely reference the genres of light-folk, blues, country and pop. With each song carefully lacquered and polished to a soft sheen, there's barely a rough edge to be found on Pennies. Still, those who typically cringe at the sound of smoothed-out instrumentation and pat guitar solos will have a hard time resisting the infectious chorus in "Sunset Town" and the amiable shuffle of the album's title track.

One could debate whether naming their band Miss Fairchild was an act of comedy or of comic subterfuge. Either way, behind the clever disguise, white-boy duo P. Nice (turntables) and Wrall Skillz (m.c.) pilfer the canon of modern black music to a degree that would make even the Beastie Boys blush. Where their forebears were first and foremost a rap group, Miss Fairchild appear to be more interested in experimentation than imitation. On Album, a record that's part house party and part laboratory, the pair ape and tweak across the spectrum of urban music, borrowing equally from rap, soul, dance and R&B. The result is both sophisticated and surprising-white guys aren't supposed to do black music this well.