Musical fashions and fads may come and go, but in the end a band will always be judged solely by their songs. As long as the tunes are catchy and memorable, that is what is important.

I’m a sucker for the storyteller. Sure, the swinging hooks and catchy riffs are great, but for all the various attributes that make an artist or band stand out, the bard card is generally what lures me into month-long catalog benders.

A nocturnal gust of sadness, Chris Stamey’s Lovesick Blues is a soundtrack to an endless, impossibly vivid night of heartbreak — dark, impossibly dark, but at the same time beautiful.

Check out an exclusive advance stream of “Anyway,” from Chris Stamey’s upcoming album Lovesick Blues, due on February 5, 2013 from Yep Roc Records.

For the past few years, Jamie Hoover and Steve Stoeckel of the Spongetones have been moonlighting as a duo. Clinging tight the melody-matted pop rock essence their long-running North Carolina band is universally adored for

Chris Stamey, up until recently, hadn’t issued a new long-player since he worked with Yo La Tengo on 2005′s A Question of Temperature, and last recorded a full album with his old band the dB’s in 1982.

With the average Christmas album, you dig it out sometime around Thanksgiving, then stuff it back in with the tinsel and garland sometime around New Year’s Day. Singer-songwriter Emily Hurd may have broken that pattern with Any Given Day.

When Peter Holsapple decided to reunite with the rest of the original dB’s, they vowed to take their time.

The reunited dB’s come storming out on Falling Off the Sky, quickly dispensing with the expected sheen of comfy nostalgia from the opening track.

The Meldavians represent the coming together of three major talents all out of North Carolina: vocalist and acoustic guitarist Melissa Reaves, guitarist Scott Sawyer and keyboardist Dave Fox.