If your complaint about Michael McDonald’s brand of city-slicker soul, dating all the way back to the Doobie Brothers, was that it lacked a certain grease-popping earthiness, “Judgement Day” certainly bolsters the argument.

Beth Hart, a raw and dynamic singer, has joined forces once again with guitarist Joe Bonamassa — and, as with 2011′s Don’t Explain, this collaboration brings out the best in both.

The title track from If The River Was Whiskey, the first album of new material from 1990s radio-darlings the Spin Doctors since 2005, scuffs up the hitmaking formula for familiar songs like “Little Miss Can’t be Wrong” with a snarling city-blues vibe.

One of two original songs on the forthcoming Eric Clapton album Old Sock has leaked. Titled “Gotta Get Over,” it’s a welcome throwback for fans of his initial post-1960s solo projects.

Robben Ford’s most focused, unembellished album in like, forever, may have also been the easiest album the virtuosic blues/jazz/rock/you-name-it guitarist has made in a long spell, too.

Jimmie Vaughan, co-founding guitarist of the Fabulous Thunderbirds and brother of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, has suffered a heart attack and will be off the road for as long as a month.

Derek Trucks is coming off a signature year, highlighted by a Grammy win for the Tedeschi Trucks Band and an appearance with wife Susan Tedeschi at the White House. They’ll return to the studio in February

All of the guitar gods were gone, or otherwise occupied. Drum machines had replaced stomping feet. There were synthesizers instead of someone slapping on the 88s. Into this unlikeliest of scenarios stepped Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Here’s an exclusive stream of the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ “I Want to Believe,” the sizzling advance single from their upcoming Severn Records debut On the Verge.

New Music Monday spans a dizzying range of styles, from rootsy stuff to jazz, from blues to classic rock. Those blues? Check out Ben Harper and old-school harp-master Charlie Musselwhite.