‘Poseidon and the Bitter Bug’ (CD)

Amy Ray and Emily Saliers spent three weeks in an Atlanta recording studio and came out of the sessions with a double disc of songs showcasing the duo’s storytelling talents and guitar melodies.

The two discs that make up the Indigo Girls’ latest, “Poseidon and the Bitter Bug,” each contain the same 10 songs — five from Ray and five from Saliers. The first disc features rich, full band orchestrations and the second disc a stripped-down set of just the Indigo Girls and their guitars.

The songs stay true to their style — using guitar and percussion to tell American stories of good and evil, love, loss and life with well-crafted lyrics, melody, harmony and rhythm.

If the full-band disc puts passion and sound between your headphones, the acoustic disc has an immediate intimacy weighted with little more than bare voices and instruments. It will remind longtime fans of their stylings on “Closer to Fine” or “Power of Two” on 1995’s double-live disc, “1200 Curfews.”

The album’s “don’t miss” tracks include Saliers’ “Digging for Your Dream” and Ray’s laid-back and bluesy “Sugar Tongue.” Both continue the band’s folk rock heritage.

‘The Mentalist’ (TV)

Even up against Fox’s formidable “American Idol,” which has earned the nickname “Death Star” for obliterating the competition, “The Mentalist” has emerged as the most popular — and most unlikely — hit of the network TV season.

An aggressively unhip show with no built-in “water cooler” factor, “The Mentalist” might try the patience of the most seasoned psychic as to why it has triumphed over edgier, star-driven fare. The success of the drama, which follows in the tradition of “The Rockford Files,” “Magnum P.I.” and “Columbo,” where the quirky main character solves crimes with ingenuity and more than a little humor, might come down to the adage that everything old is new again.

The show stars native Australian Simon Baker, who plays a onetime psychic turned crime investigator. The show features little on-screen violence and only a hint of romantic tension between Baker and his costar Robin Tunney, who plays a skeptical agent with the California Bureau of Investigation.

Baker has his own theory about the show’s success: “It’s a procedural, but it’s not defined by its procedural nature,” he says. “It has a sly wit about it. There’s earnest moments, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously.”

The show airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on CBS, Sunflower Broadband Channels 5, 13 and 201.

‘Vegan Soul Kitchen’ (books)

“A succulent gumbo filled with accounts of my life, recipes and historical notes on what I broadly define as Afro-Diasporic cuisine” is how Bryant Terry describes his cookbook, “Vegan Soul Kitchen.”

“Vegan Soul” features dishes that Terry has eaten from countries in Africa and the Caribbean, as well as African-American and Southern dishes he grew up on in Memphis and New Orleans. But they’ve been reconstructed for the vegan.

“For most people, African and American and Southern cooking is synonymous with meals organized around fatty meats with overcooked vegetables and fruits playing a minor supporting role,” he wrote. “But when we take a step back and remember that — before the widespread industrialization of food in this country — African-Americans living in the South included lots of fresh, nutrient-dense leafy greens, tubers and fruits in their everyday diets, what I am introducing here is not that much of a stretch.”

Some featured recipes include Citrus Collards With Raisins Redux, Agave-Sweetened Orange-Orange Pekoe Tea, Sweet Sweetback’s Salad With Roasted Beet Vinaigrette, Uncle Don’s Double Mustard Greens and Roast Yam Soup, Cajun-creole-Spiced Tempeh Pieces With Creamy Grits and Open-Faced Bbq Tempeh Sandwich With Carrot-Cayenne Coleslaw.