Ray LaMontagne was born in New Hampshire but as he put it his family was just passing through His parents split up shortly after his birth and his mother began a pattern of moving her six children wherever she could find employment and housing which …

Though he had always enjoyed singing during his childhood in Cleveland OH Joshua Radin had never intended to be a musician He studied drawing and painting in college and only after stints working in a gallery as an art teacher and as a screenwriter d…

Born in Eugene OR singersongwriter Mat Kearney began his musical career at California State University Chico where he studied literature and played on the soccer team After completing his junior year Kearney went to Nashville with friend and producer…

One of the brightest figures in the revamped soft-rock movement of the early 2000s, Amos Lee offers the sort of tastefully jazz-inflected singer-songwriter stylings that made artists like James Taylor and Carly Simon such stars in the 1970s. Lee has …

In much the same way that Jos Gonzlez is from Sweden and not Spain Paolo Nutini is not a smooth Italian pop star but a soul-influenced adult alternative singer and songwriter from the exceedingly not continental town of Paisley Scotland Raised in a m…

Denver-based band the Fray was formed in 2002 by Isaac Slade vocals piano and Joe King guitar vocals when the two former school friends met up again in a local music store They soon began regular two-man jam sessions that led to writing songs and dev…

Born on December 10 1972 in Downey CA Donavon Frankenreiter took to surfing at a young age By the age of 13 he had a sponsor -- Billabong -- and the pursuit of a professional career in surfing led to a move to Hawaii a year later He had rented a home…

Ari Hest became interested in music while still a teenager growing up in the Bronx Though hed taken piano lessons as a child he taught himself how to play the guitar mostly by listening to records from his parents collection Paul Simon and alternativ…

John Mayer emerged in 2001 as the fresh young face for a new generation of earnest singer-songwriters. While Mayer's work is as confessional, intimate, and acoustic-guitar-based as that of old-schoolers like James Taylor and Jackson Browne, his appro…

Glasgow-via-Belfast indie-rock ensemble Snow Patrol have played everything from shambolic noise-pop a la Pavement, to a slightly droney post-rock in the vein of Mogwai, to epic lovelorn anthems modeled after Coldplay. While the band's influences are …

North Carolina's Ben Folds Five flouted convention at every turn; for starters, they were a trio, not a quintet. And for an (initially) indie pop-rock band, the absence of guitar (leader Folds was a singer/pianist) was an anomaly. The band's mix of c…

An impressive 12-string guitar player and songwriter San Franciscos Matt Nathanson has built up a loyal fan base through extensive touring His live shows are stripped-down affairs usually with just Nathanson and cellist Matt Fish on-stage and are hal…

Originally from Long Beach CA singersongwriter Greg Laswell moved to San Diego to attend college where he soon became involved in the local music scene He played in the band Shillglen and founded All the Rest Records which went out of business in 200…