 | | The rustic, wide-ranging sounds of singer/songwriter Abigail Washburn appear so genuine and natural, they must come from a person who grew up surrounded by folk and bluegrass. |
 | | By the sound of them, you would think Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings started making funk-threaded soul music together in the 1960s. |
 | | Combining elements of punk, Gypsy music, and Brecht-ian cabaret, Gogol Bordello tell the story of New York's immigrant diaspora through debauchery, humor, and surreal costumes. |
 | | Like their West Coast contemporaries in Death Cab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley steadily gained traction in indie pop circles throughout the late '90s and early 2000s before the record industry (and public at large) officially took note. |
 | | Much like Southern rock revivalists My Morning Jacket and Kings of Leon, Steel Train take a post-punk approach to the hoary sounds of '70s album-oriented rock. |
 | | Born and raised just outside Peterborough in Millbrook, Ontario, songwriter Serena Ryder grew up listening to old Beatles and Leonard Cohen records that she found in her parents' collection. |
 | | Singer/songwriter Samuel Beam, who rose to prominence with a blend of whispered vocals and softly homespun indie folk, chose the moniker Iron & Wine after coming across a dietary supplement named "Beef Iron & Wine" while working on a film. |
 | | Penning songs that are offbeat in narrative, but literate and emotionally revealing, and performing them in a soulful, idiosyncratic style that reveals both strength and fragility, Cat Power was one of the most acclaimed singer/songwriters to emerge from the 1990s indie rock scene, a one of a kind artist unafraid to reveal her inner self in her music and follow her muse in a variety of different directions. |
 | | Battles is a quartet comprised of drummer John Stanier of Helmet and Tomahawk, guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams of Don Caballero and Storm & Stress, guitarist David Konopka of Lynx, and avant solo musician Tyondai Braxton. |
 | | Singer/songwriter Mason Jennings blends the personal insights of a poet, the political broadsides of a protest singer, and the broad musical eclecticism of a jazz musician with a rock & roller's passion. |
 | | Simplicity is key for the lo-fi blend of folk/indie rock from San Francisco duo Two Gallants. Taking their name from a James Joyce short story, Adam Stephens (vocals/guitar/harmonica) and Tyson Vogel (drums/vocals) have been playing together as Two Gallants since 2002, sounding more like a dirty Southern folk act than their Bay Area origins may initially suggest. |
 | | British blues-rockers Back Door Slam boast a tough, streetwise sound that recalls veteran U.K. blues players such as Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and John Mayall, though these young guitar slingers represent a new generation -- when bassist Adam Jones joined the group in 2006, guitarist and singer Davy Knowles and drummer Ross Doyle were all of 20 years old, while Jones himself was just 19. |
 | | Although his parents are Argentinean, singer/songwriter José González was born in Sweden, where he became nationally renowned for his mix of autumnal indie pop and intimate acoustics. |
 | | Folk-rock duo Tegan and Sara first burst onto the Canadian music scene in 1998, when they earned the highest score in history at Calgary's "Garage Warz" competition; their quick rise didn't stop, for their melodic acoustics and charming stage personas led to a slew of dates with Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair that same year and a record deal with Neil Young's Vapor Records in April 2000. |
 | | Starting in the late ‘90s and throughout the 2000s and 2010s, My Morning Jacket expanded on their rock and country roots, embracing everything from neo-psychedelia to funk, prog, and reggae in their sonic experimentation. |
 | | The Avett Brothers' music has roots in traditional folk and bluegrass, but also captures the high spirits and no-boundaries attitude of rock & roll -- which is appropriate, since rock is where Scott Avett and Seth Avett first cut their teeth as musicians. |
 | | Broken Social Scene materialized in 1999 when K.C. Accidental's Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, formerly of By Divine Right, bonded their friendship into a band. |
 | | Alternative country singer/songwriter Neko Case won a steadily growing cult audience for her smoky, sophisticated vocals and the downcast beauty of her music. |
 | | Restless sonic chameleons the Fiery Furnaces revolve around the brother and sister duo of Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, whose prickly childhood relationship and musical family set the stage for their playful, unpredictable music. |
 | | From inauspicious beginnings as the weekend house band at a Dakar club for government officials, Senegal's Orchestra Baobob, named for the club (which in turn took its name from the native baobob tree), went on to become one of the seminal bands of world music, with an influence that extended far beyond their national boundaries, throughout West Africa and into Europe. |
 | | A self-described "new band made up of old friends," the Raconteurs feature the White Stripes' Jack White and power pop maestro Brendan Benson on vocals, keyboards, and guitars, and the Greenhornes' drummer Patrick Keeler and bassist Jack Lawrence as the group's rhythm section. |
 | | The Gypsy-tinged quartet DeVotchKa were formed in Denver, CO by multi-instrumentalists Nick Urata (vocals, guitar, trumpet), Tom Hagerman (violin, accordion), Jeanie Schroder (sousaphone, bass), and percussionist Shawn King. |
 | | Alison Krauss helped bring bluegrass to a new audience in the '90s. Blending bluegrass with folk, Krauss was instantly acclaimed from the start of her career, but it wasn't until her platinum-selling 1995 compilation Now That I've Found You that she became a mainstream star. |
 | | Mashing together electro, rock, and funk and taking cues from such artists as Daft Punk and Prince, Ghostland Observatory formed in Austin, TX, and consists of vocalist/guitarist Aaron Behrens and producer/beat-maker Thomas Turner. |
 | | Led by Montana native Colin Meloy, the Decemberists craft theatrical, hyper-literate pop songs that draw heavily from late-'60s British folk acts like Fairport Convention and Pentangle and the early-'80s college rock grandeur of the Waterboys and R. |
 | | The longtime drummer for the Band, Levon Helm wore many musical hats throughout his long career, including multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, impresario, studio owner, studio engineer, and producer. |
 | | Boasting a mix of Southern pride, erudite lyrics, and a muscled three-guitar attack, Drive-By Truckers became one of the most well-respected alternative country-rock acts of the 2000s. |
 | | Brewing a vital concoction of Latin salsa, urban hip-hop, and jazz-funk, Ozomatli formed in Los Angeles in the mid-'90s, eventually settling on a lineup that included Raúl "El Bully" Pacheco, Ulises Bella, Jiro Yamaguchi, Cut Chemist, Chali 2na, Wil-Dog Abers, Mairo Calire, Rene "Spinobi" Dominguez, Justin "Niño" Porée, Asdrubal Sierra, and Jabu. |
 | | Based in Philadelphia but also spending time in New York, Man Man feature Honus Honus (vocals/synthesizer), Tiberius Lyn (drums), Clint Killingsworth (bass), and Steven Dufala (guitar/trumpet). |
 | | Born in Las Vegas in early 1977, singer/songwriter Jenny Lewis is one of indie rock's most popular ingénues, known for her work as the primary vocalist of Rilo Kiley as well as her solo albums, guest appearances, and duo with boyfriend Johnathan Rice. |
 | | Austin-based Latin funk jam band Grupo Fantasma formed in 2000, and quickly established a reputation for their high-energy live shows. |
 | | While Solomon Burke never made a major impact upon the pop audience -- he never, in fact, had a Top 20 hit -- he was an important early soul pioneer. |
 | | During the '80s, Aimee Mann led the post-new wave pop group 'Til Tuesday. After releasing three albums with the group, she broke up the band and embarked on a solo career. |
 | | It’s too facile to call the Black Keys counterparts of the White Stripes: they share several surface similarities -- their names are color-coded, they hail from the Midwest, they’re guitar-and-drum blues-rock duos -- but the Black Keys are their own distinct thing, a tougher, rougher rock band with a purist streak that never surfaces in the Stripes. |
 | | Rescued from the brink by a well-timed move to Southern California, M.I.A. first got its start as a Las Vegas punk act by the name of the Swell. |
 | | Cheekily named all-female Led Zeppelin cover band Lez Zeppelin formed in New York City in the late 2000s. |
 | | A folk-influenced songwriter from Kent, OH, Jessica Lea Mayfield began performing with her family's bluegrass band, One Way Rider, at the age of eight. |
 | | Not to be confused with the Canadian heavy metal band from the late '80s, named simply Sword, the Sword are a retro-metal four-piece hailing from -- of all places -- the singer/songwriter oasis of Austin, Texas. |
 | | Something of a one-man mixture of the Cramps, Beck's early indie records (circa One Foot in the Grave), and the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou, singer and guitarist Langhorne Slim offers a sardonic, modern take on traditional folk, country, and blues. |
 | | Formed in 1998 in Austin, TX, Okkervil River find the middle ground between indie rock and folk-rock, placing slightly more emphasis on the former. |
 | | The mixture of indie rock songwriting, socially conscious lyrics, and roots reggae rhythms has long been a staple in the jam band world, and State Radio delivers on all counts. |
 | | Mixing synth pop, shoegaze, and indie pop into a sound all their own, Ladytron formed in mid-1999. Keyboardists/programmers Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu settled in Liverpool after a spate of traveling and DJ work in Japan. |
 | | Leslie Feist -- best known simply as Feist -- was a respected member of the Canadian alternative music community before becoming an international pop sensation with the success for her albums Let It Die and The Reminder. |
 | | British producer Jamie Lidell became as widely recognized for his effective neo-soul vocals and performances as for his earlier career as a producer of groovy experimental techno. |
 | | The Low Anthem's unique brand of Americana makes room for gospel, folk, and blues, a blend that began taking shape in their hometown of Providence, RI. |
 | | A veteran of New York's anti-folk scene, songwriter Regina Spektor makes quirky, highly eclectic, but always personal music. |
 | | A jam band coming out of the Midwest in the mid-'90s, Umphrey's McGee edged toward the Frank Zappa side of the improv rock scale, as opposed to the Grateful Dead/Allman Brothers Band direction espoused by many of their contemporaries, like the Big Wu. |
 | | In 1968, a naïve young singer from the Black Country hills in England named Robert Plant was discovered wailing the blues by veteran session guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones. |
 | | Hailing from Austin, TX, What Made Milwaukee Famous features Jeremy Bruch (drums), John Farmer (bass), Michael Kingcaid (vocals/guitar), and Drew Patrizi (keyboards). |
 | | Born in 1939 in Chicago, Mavis Staples achieved wide recognition as lead singer for the Staple Singers. |
