Adults do not abide the Auto-Tune, and they do not cotton to reggaeton air horns. They prefer melody, subtlety, elegance, uplift, relevance, thoughtfulness and substance. They do not spell California Gurls in the same manner as Katy Perry. And they may like the following albums, all released in 2010, an excellent year in listening for the grownups.
Frazey Ford: Obadiah
An arresting listen, this humid, mature collection of acoustic soul from the Be Good Tanyas' sultry warbler is a classic in-waiting.
Representative track: Firecracker
Related listening : Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dog's God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise - tight-throated crooning from a troubled troubadour, this time with a new band.
Robert Plant: Band of Joy
The in-a-mood-for-a-melody singer's second consecutive winner (2007's duet album Raising Sand with Alison Krauss was a bluegrassed beauty) artfully and often hauntingly mixes folky twang with vintage, vibrating, West Coast rock.
Representative track: House of Cards
Related listening: The self-titled debut from the sweet, sassy Alabamans, The Secret Sisters, produced (as Band of Joy) by T Bone Burnett.
Gil Scott-Heron: I'm New Here
Mind-blowing post-modern blues and resolute spoken word from the former "New Black Poet" who brought us Whitey on the Moon in 1970. Blunt, riveting retrospection marks his first album in 13 years.
Representative track: Me and the Devil
Related listening: Mose Allison's The Way of the World. The veteran southern pianist's sparse and swinging first album in a dozen years free-wheels wonderfully.
Sarah Harmer: Oh Little Fire
"I was waiting around to be played like an old piano." A master class in singing and songwriting, from a graceful, willowy Ontarian who has never sounded better.
Representative track: The Thief
Related listening: Doug Paisley's rootsy Constant Companion is your iPod's best friend.
Mavis Staples: You Are Not Alone
The mahogany-voiced gospel icon preaches hope and kinship, on an album produced by fellow Chicagoan Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco fame).
Representative track: You Are Not Alone
Related listening: Robert Randolph and the Family Band's We Walk This Road, one of the year's estimated 783 albums produced by T Bone Burnett.
Tania Gill: Bolger Station
Eclectically improvised pop and jazz, equal parts playful and thoughtful. All aboard for the first-class and fanciful Toronto pianist, with trumpet, bass and drum accompaniment.
Representative track: Bolger Station
Related listening: Elizabeth Shepherd's Heavy Falls the Night, soulful and tuneful modern jazz.
Luke Doucet and the White Falcon: Steel City Trawler
Whip-smart, well-conceived and crunchy - guitar rock and folk-flecked pop with a point. The Hamilton-based Doucet, as underrated as the Steel City itself, makes his most accessible record yet.
Representative track: Thinking People
Related listening: Kelly Stoltz's To Dreamers, one more excellent disc of San Francisco power pop from an intriguing songwriter.
Bruce Springsteen: The Promise
"So turn up your radio, and darling dial me in close." A welcome blast from the past, composed of archived tracks from the mid-seventies deemed not edgy enough by the Boss to fit onto Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Representative track: Gotta Get That Feeling
Related listening: Bob Dylan's The Witmark Demos (1962-1964) - rough-cut samples from a scruffy song-peddler who forecast a hard rain and a strong answer-blowin' wind.
The Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Concert: Live in Vancouver (DVD)
With a live follow-up to 2009's inventive Things About Comin' My Way, Steve Dawson and friends (Oh Susanna, Colin James, John Hammond, Geoff Muldaur and more) continue to explore the unwashed and evocative Depression-era blues of the Chatmon brothers.
Representative track: Sitting on Top of the World
Related listening: Genuine Negro Jig, by the plucky string-band traditionalists the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Meaghan Smith: The Cricket's Orchestra
Whistling, swinging, finger-snapping retro-orchestral pop from the airy-voiced Haligonian. Fun, with just the right quotient of cuteness.
Representative track: Heartbroken
Related listening: Clapton, a masterful and dreamy journey of pop, blues and New Orleans' standards from Mister Slowhand and his all-stars.
Brad Wheeler