Free Album Streaming: New CDs from Wilco, the Jayhawks, "Pearl Jam 20," & More

"Mockingbird Time," the new album by The Jayhawks, is available for free streaming this week.

More musical heavy hitters are releasing Fall albums this week and next, and there are some much-anticipated new albums up for free streaming this week. If you didn't catch Wilco's 24-hour-only streaming of its new album a couple of weeks back, you'll be glad to know that KCRW is now offering it online for a much longer time: "The Whole Love" will be streaming free through Oct. 2nd.

Other notable releases: The Jayhawks are back with "Mockingbird Time," Tony Bennett teams up with the late Amy Winehouse and others for "Duets II," and the trio Ivy (featuring singer Dominique Durand and Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger) return with "All Hours" (this was previously streaming on Amazon.com). And if you missed last week's stream of "Night of Hunters," the new Tori Amos album, NPR is streaming it now.

There are a couple of interesting re-releases/collections as well: the 29-track soundtrack album for "Pearly Jam 20," Cameron Crowe's documentary about the band (with rare and unreleased tracks), and "Winterland," the live album from Jimi Hendrix's 1968 performances at the famed San Francisco  venue. And although the third season of NBC's a cappella singing show "The Sing-Off" is just beginning tonight, there's already an album of "signature songs" from the first episode up for streaming.

Some of this week's free album streaming choices:

KCRW Album Preview: 
"The Whole Love" by Wilco (streaming through Oct. 2)
"The Stepkids" by The Stepkids (streaming through Oct. 10)

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"An Argument With Myself" (EP) by Jens Lekman
"Earth Division" (EP) by Mogwai
"Pearl Jam 20" by Pearl Jam
"Winterland" by Jimi Hendrix
"Mockingbird Time" by The Jayhawks
"All Hours" by Ivy
"Megafaun" by Megafaun
"Unpersons" by The Pack A.D.

NPR First Listen:
"Night of Hunters" by Tori Amos

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"Duets II" by Tony Bennett
"Season 3: Episode 1 - Signature Songs" by The Sing-Off
"The Reckoning" by Needtobreathe

Which of these new releases will you be checking out? And do you plan on seeing "Pearl Jam 20"?

2010 "Sing-Off" Winner Crowned in Finale

Alabama's Committed is the 2010 "Sing-Off" winner.

I'm a few days late in posting this, but the 2010 "Sing-Off" winner was finally crowned Monday night. Amid nearly two hours of highlights, montages, and guest performances by stars like Neil Diamond and Sheryl Crow, the show did get down to business.

The four finalists were reduced to two, and then the winner (chosen by viewer votes) was announced: the six-man Alabama group Committed, who beat out southern rockers Street Corner Symphony to take the "Sing-Off" title. (The Backbeats and Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town were the first two groups to be eliminated in the live finale, broadcast on NBC from 8 to 10 p.m.)

(Read Entertainment Weekly's take on the "Sing-Off" finale and its grades for the performances.)

The young men of Committed got together singing in church, and according to an article in Zap2It.com, they had never performed secular music before "The Sing-Off." I couldn't even find a website for them. (Read Zap2It's interview with Committed.) Well, Committed will be performing a lot of non-church music now: by winning the competition they've earned $100,000 and a Sony recording contract.

Congrats to Committed, and to all the competitors in this year's edition of "The Sing-Off." It'll be fun to see where Committed goes from here and what kind of songs they choose to record.