Washington, D.C.-based Mike Shupp (website: www.mikeshupp.com) writes American guitar pop songs in the way that Matthew Sweet, Tommy Keene, REM, or Paul Westerberg do. Like those artists, his songs conjure the heartland, cruising through summer nights with one hand on the wheel, and the unlimited potential in tomorrow. With his buzzing and crunching guitars, soaring vocal harmonies, and hooks that he seemingly has written into every other line of every song, Shupp's music, and his newly released "This Time" (Private Mind Records), is classic American pop. Recorded at Shupp's own City Park Sound studio, and mixed by producer/engineer Don McCollister (Sister Hazel, Shawn Mullins, Indigo Girls), "This Time" is Shupp's third full-length solo release. The Jan-Feb 2003 issue of Amplifier Magazine printed "[Shupp] has just released his third solo album, 'This Time', and it's a killer... a must-have."