Freedom of the Press—the best new compilation of crooners, twangers, jammers and singer-songwriters I’ve heard in ages—benefits the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which was co-founded by the late Grateful Dead songwriter John Perry Barlow and is dedicated to “helping support and defend public-interest journalism focused on exposing mismanagement, corruption and lawbreaking in government.” Barlow’s country-rock influence also extends to outstanding tracks by One Eleven Heavy, who channel The Band to rewrite “Bertha” in “Valley Bottom Fever,” and Hans Chew’s Jefferson Airplane-y “Strange Ecology.” Fellow travelers Sunwatchers, Elkhorn and 75 Dollar Bill, meanwhile, number among a new weird New York school of improvisational grandeur.