Stranger's Almanac

Replacements fans take note: Whiskeytown, this Raleigh, N.C., quintet breaks away from the No Depression pack with Stranger's Almanac, a potent major-label bow that might be characterized as country & Westerberg. More tuneful and ruminative than their rowdy shows would suggest, Ryan Adams' Americana-soaked songs alternately rock and tiptoe through the space between apathy and regret — though they're too lyrically undeveloped for the album to achieve the instant classicism it flirts with. B+