Ollabelle (2004)

Ollabelle might be described as gospel music for Norah Jones fans. That's no epithet, though roots purists may object to how smoothed-out this young Lower East Side sextet's modernized blues spirituals get. Theirs isn't the most wrenching ''Soul of a Man'' imaginable, but the collective's soothing covers of African-American traditionals (and the Stones' ''I Am Waiting''!) feel perfectly legit -- and lovely -- in their own right. If this gospel happens to be Starbucks-friendly, well, God works in mysterious ways.