Reza is a mix of indie rock and melodic folk.

The roots of Los Angeles band Maroon 5 lay in the late-1990s Weezer-influenced alt-rock outfit Kara's Flowers. After that group disbanded, the members eventually started a new band (along with a second guitarist). Rechristening themselves Maroon 5, t…

Formed in the Pacific Northwest during the late 1990s, Death Cab for Cutie deals in guitar rock that is informed by a striking sensitivity. Led by singer/guitarist Benjamin Gibbard, the group straddles the line between indie and emo rock, earning the…

In the late 1990s, the Albuquerque indie-rock band Flake Music morphed into the Shins, led by vocalist-guitarist James Mercer. Upon the release of 2001's OH, INVERTED WORLD, the Shins garnered a landslide of critical acclaim with their amiable, 1960…

Part of a wave of classical-pop crossover artists around the turn of the century (Charlotte Church, Bond, Andrea Bocelli), the young Josh Groban achieved massive worldwide success straight out of the gate with his 2001 debut album. In fact, he veers …

Initially the brainchild of Michigan folksingers KC Groves now based in Lyons CO and Jo Serrapere Uncle Earl were founded in 2000 after each artist had established herself as a solo artist Work on their debut She Went Upstairs began shortly thereafte…

Influences: Built to Spill, The Kinks, The Police, Gomez, Ozma, Pedro The Lion, Ben Folds Five, Pink Floyd, Modest Mouse, Queen. Sounds Like: Rush, Dismemberment Plan, Queen.

it's hard, loud, stoner. it's dreamy, spacy, alternative 90s. it's nada.

Cycle uses XXI century tools, putting together technology and electric guitars to create sounds that go from Break to rock and from punk to techno, always with a lot of style. When playing live, the band doesn’t respect the conventional guidelines …

One of the best and most popular confessional songwriters of the '70s, Carly Simon combined pop sensibilities with a folk background for a series of smash hits. During her tumultuous marriage to James Taylor, the pair scored big with a duet cover of …

Latin Soul is R&B mixed with Jazz Electronic Hip Hop and Funk pop and rock with Neo Soul.

Robert Johnson is the most legendary of Delta blues singers, and while the facts of his real life are scarce, tall tales abound--most commonly that he sold his soul to the devil in order to master the guitar. Johnson invested his music with frighteni…

The origins of Train's widescreen, Americana-tinged rock lay in the coffeehouse acoustic duo that singer/songwriter Pat Monahan inaugurated with guitarist Rob Hotchkiss after the two left the L.A. band the Apostles. Eventually they expanded to a full…

Formed in North Carolina, USA, Ben Folds Five took their name from leader Ben Folds (b. 12 September 1966, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; piano/vocals). However, the band turned out to be a trio rather than the quintet that the name implied, the…

A singer whose music is as exotic and elegant as her image, Sade utilized sultry, jazz-tinged vocals and smooth pop arrangements to become, deservedly, one of the most successful international stars of the 1980s. Her voice is a subtle thing, breathy …

Marvin Gaye began his career in the late 1950s, singing with various R&B vocal groups. Soon he moved on to work as a session drummer and vocalist at Motown. Gaye's own '60s albums are marked by propulsive, high-energy R&B, and duets with Mary Wells a…

Before The Smashing Pumpkins, alternative rock had yet to touch upon the grandiose arena rock of the 1970s. Leader/singer/guitarist/songwriter Billy Corgan composed songs that were somehow part Boston, Cure, Queen, and Jane's Addiction. The Pumpkins …

When she first emerged in the '80s, Canadian singer k.d. Lang was heavily inspired by the swooping, crystalline vocal style of country queen Patsy Cline. She quickly showed herself to be a writer of considerable depth, simultaneously forward-looking …

Originally emerging from the classically influenced progressive band Sisyphus, Curved Air formed in 1969 with a line-up comprising Sonja Kristina (b. 14 April 1949, Brentwood, Essex, England; vocals), Darryl Way (b. 17 December 1948, Taunton, Somerse…

b. 6 February 1950, Los Angeles, California, USA. The daughter of celebrated singer/pianist Nat "King" Cole, Natalie survived early pressures to emulate her father's laid-back singing style. Signed to Capitol Records in 1975, her debut release, "This…

Harry Connick, Jr. is an accomplished singer, pianist, and actor who emerged in the late 1980s as a Sinatra-style crooner for a new generation. As a musician, his influences include bebop, New Orleans jazz, and big-band swing. His score for the film …

Singer-songwriter-based Rock and Pop

Bruce Springsteen came out of New Jersey in the early 1970s sounding like a cross between Bob Dylan and early Tom Waits, backed by the rambunctious E Street Band. After toughening up his sound, Springsteen created his 1975 masterpiece, BORN TO RUN, w…

In an era when female country music stars were few and far between, Patsy Cline not only took the country world by storm but also redefined the genre. Her tremendous popularity opened the door through which a legion of followers poured, while her gor…

Singer/songwriter M. Ward, a protege of Giant Sand leader Howe Gelb, made a splash on the indie-rock scene in the early-to-mid-2000s, despite being closer in spirit to John Fahey (guitar-wise) and Bob Dylan (in songwriting style) than to any alt-rock…

Reaching the national spotlight at the end of 2002 pianist Vienna Teng had been an important part of the California singersongwriter scene for a few years before then A pianist since the age of five Teng took piano lessons before moving on to improvi…

Linda Ronstadt began as the clear-voiced, country-influenced singer for '60s folk-rockers the Stone Poneys, where she covered tunes by the likes of Mike Nesmith and Tim Buckley. That knack for choosing material served her well in the second half of t…

No other band has had quite the same impact as the four lads from Liverpool. Over the course of eight years and more than a dozen albums, the Beatles changed popular music and culture forever, spearheading the 1960s British Invasion and shaping rock …

The U.K.'s Dire Straits became one of the world's most popular rock bands the old-fashioned way, through songwriting and musicianship. When "Sultans of Swing" broke through on both sides of the Atlantic in 1979, the sound suggested Bob Dylan backed b…