Heart vocalist Ann Wilson returns with Hope & Glory, her debut solo album showcasing a new, serious-minded original and 11 cover selections. More somber and earthy than preachy, the themes in Neil Young's "War of Man," Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," and Jesse Colin Young's "Darkness, Darkness" are stirred by these troubled times. More clouds and thunder come in a spooky-cool run at Pink Floyd's "Goodbye Blue Sky," a down-home front-porch hootenanny of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising" with guest Gretchen Wilson, and a call to "Get Together" with The Youngbloods' summer-of-love hit. Other guests include Elton John on his own "Where to Now Saint Peter," and k.d. lang riding shotgun on the road to Lucinda Williams' "Jackson." Closing out the Zoe Records release, Wilson's new song "Little Problems, Little Lies" was written from the perspective of an American soldier in Iraq, "a-bleedin' in a bombed-out SUV," and succeeds where 90 percent of pop music today fails - asking the listener to slow down a little, breathe deeply, and listen to the words.

The second edition of the Penny Ante Book is a beautifully twisted art jam that feels like finding cryptic love letters at the foot of a high-school locker, smudged with the tears and ballpoint-pen teen angst of a Breakfast Club detention. Published by the Penny-Ante Press division of Gifted Children Records, the 288 pages are peppered with rock-and-roll flotsam and jetsam, from an essay about the real Darby Crash by Alice Bag to a tour diary by Smog's Bill Callahan. Other highlights include a short story by Lene Lovich, Bonnie Prince Billy poster artwork by Stacie Willoughby, a collage by Simeon Coxe of Silver Apples, a reflection on the Welsh band Man by Ptolemaic Terrascope founding editor Phil McMullen, and six pages of art by Winston Smith, best known for his subversive cut-and-paste work for the Dead Kennedys.

The soundtrack to a fascinating multimedia performance with a bug's eye view is released next week by indie stalwart K Records. Commissioned earlier this year by the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Mirah & the Spectratone International's Share This Place is a cool collaboration with Kyle Hanson and Lori Goldston of Black Cat Orchestra, boasting a genesis that goes back to the observations of 19th Century entomologist J. Henri Fabré. The trio's parlor-room folk of lush vintage instruments accompanies filmmaker Britta Johnson's faux-insect stop-motion film - a taste of which can be found at (http://www.lorigoldston.com/sharethisplace.htm).

A favorite of the indie-film-fest circuit is released this week as a must-see DVD, peeling back the myth and magic of Roky Erickson. Opening with his own mother's court deposition concerning her son's stewardship, You're Gonna Miss Me is brutally honest as the camera observes what's left from a life of "permanently tripping." Another line-jumper in the blur between genius and insanity, the 13th Floor Elevators' seer certainly had that special something - a voice that Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top calls the elusive "mystery factor." Whatever your personal positions on drug abuse, anti-psychotic medications, alternative therapy, and our prison system, you might be challenged by this one-hit-over-the-line madman, now caressing his Mr. Potato Head doll, turning on every sound-producing device in the house, trying to escape his own white noise. The Palm Pictures documentary is packed with archival footage, rare photographs, and family and devotees telling the tale, which includes a 1966 appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, his last real gig in 1987 with the Butthole Surfers, and bizarre Mom-made home movies crowning a Christ-like Roky "king of kings." Bonus material on the DVD includes live and rare acoustic performances and readings.