Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby with the Tim Lee 3

Eric Goulden, aka Wreckless Eric, was part of the original Stiff Records roster in the mid-1970s, right alongside Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, and Ian Dury. Amy Rigby was a member of the proto-Americana band The Shams in New York in the 1980s before kicking off a moderately successful solo career in 1996 with Diary of a Mod Housewife. Considering all they have in common—the two have spent decades at the margins of the music industry, a few career highlights and periodic rediscoveries punctuating long periods of obscurity, and Rigby used to play Eric’s 1978 hit “Whole Wide World” in her solo sets—maybe their 2008 marriage isn’t that surprising. And neither is the assured popcraft of their new album, Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby, a charming and unassuming disc of lo-fi gems that mixes up Eric’s pub-rock roots with the urban twang of Rigby’s solo career. (It was released by Stiff late last year.) The casual vibe of the album shouldn’t overshadow its significance as a masterful slice of classic Stiff-style jangle rock. (Matthew Everett)