Michael Penn: Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947

Michael Penn has never quite matched the success of his debut album, 1989's March, which was powered by the terrifically catchy single "No Myth," but his four subsequent discs have been reliable sources of intelligent and likeable songcraft. Not immune to the major-label troubles that famously plagued his wife, Aimee Mann, Penn left Epic Records after 2000's MP4: Days Since A Lost Time Accident, and co-founded his own independent label, United Musicians, with Mann. Shifting to a DIY ethic, he took his time recording a follow-up, and spent half a decade writing and self-producing Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947 in his home studio, while also producing music by Mann, Liz Phair, and The Wallflowers, and recording film soundtracks for Melvin Goes To Dinner and The Anniversary Party. (Penn's movie ties run deep; he's not only the brother of actors Sean and Chris Penn, but his late father was a TV director and his mother is an actress.)