With a new collection of songs as homey, well-crafted and varied as your grandmother’s set of oddly matched china, Chicago music scene veterans Lisa DeRosia & Lush Budgett present their second full-length release, Yesterday Is Gone.

Yesterday is Gone will be released on May 28 with a special show at The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. In April, Billboard Magazine, Taxi and Discmakers selected the title track from “Yesterday is Gone” for inclusion on the CD compilation “Independent Music World Series Heavy Hitters.”

Part Emily Dickinson and part Kris Kristofferson, Lisa DeRosia sings songs about people struggling to make connections in their lives – to find, grab or keep hold of love, sex, dreams or a place in the world. Sometimes they’re people we know and sometimes they’re us. The stories are wrapped in arrangements flavored with bits of Burt Bacharach’s ‘70s orchestral pop, Tammy Wynette’s classic country and the Beatles’ Revolver-era rock.

Unlike the first (self-titled) Lush Budgett release, most of which was recorded in Springfield, Mo. with members of The Skeletons, Yesterday Is Gone is a band effort, recorded in Chicago by the Lush Budgett lineup that has been together since 1999: Lisa DeRosia writes, sings and plays guitar, Steve Doyle (Hoyle Brothers, Ulele) on guitar and mandolin, Mitch Straeffer (Falstaff, Whiskey Hollow) on electric and upright bass, and Gerald Dowd (Robbie Fulks, Chris Mills) on drums and percussion. Lush Budgett co-founder Greg Schultz returns on guitar and pedal steel and contributes to songwriting.

Lisa DeRosia grew up in a musical family in Michigan City, Indiana. When Michigan City had a silent movie house, the music was provided by the DeRosia family: Lisa’s grandmother and great aunt on vocals and piano, respectively. At home, Lisa’s father Ed, a former WWII tank driver, whistled pop tunes from the 30s and 40s…day and night. Lisa sang in church on Sundays. Making her way to Chicago in 1984, Lisa formed the Corn Kings with Michigan City kindergarten pal and music wiz Mitch Straeffer. The Corn Kings perfected an edgy blend of acoustic folk, country and gospel, and the band played its way through Texas and California before returning to Chicago. The Corn Kings built a loyal following and earned critical praise but eventually dissolved.

In 1993 DeRosia helped form a new folk-pop band, where she met and eventually became engaged to guitarist Greg Schultz. The band won the 1994 Midwest TicketMaster Showcase with a demo produced by Brian Deck (Red Red Meat) and a powerful performance at the Metro. DeRosia and Schultz’s engagement didn’t last, but their friendship and musical partnership did, seasoned and strengthened by their experiences.

In 1996 they formed Lush Budgett, eventually reuniting with Straeffer and adding multi-instrumentalist Steve Doyle and drummer Gerald Dowd to complete the lineup.

Reviewers and fans have likened Lush Budgett to everything from “vintage country gems” to “a countrified version of the Throwing Muses” to “twangy helium rock.” Whatever it is, with Lisa DeRosia’s angelic voice, the band’s solid musicianship and an emphasis on writing good songs, Lush Budgett avoids the country sub-genre flavor-of-the-month in favor of a lonesome and steady sound driven by catchy hooks and evocative lyrics.