In late 2003, things picked up rapidly and a bit weirdly for folkie Alexi Murdoch. Moving to balmy Los Angeles from Scotland in the late '90s, Murdoch let the sleepy, weepy U.K. folk sound seep into indie and lo-fi influences. But he never did much with his music beyond some local gigs, he worried about damaging his personal attachment to the... [+] Read More

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Irish singer/songwriter Damien Rice spent his childhood fishing and daydreaming in the countryside of Celbridge, County Kildare. Painting and writing songs inspired him as a young man, motivating Rice to put a band together. The heavy, indie rock sounds of Juniper were signed to Polygram in 1997 and "The World Is Dead" and "Weathermen" did... [+] Read More

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Tagged by many music journalists as one of the most likely songwriters to fill the void left by Elliott Smith in the acoustic indie singer/songwriter movement, Denison Witmer catalogs the experiences of young adulthood in almost painfully honest detail. With a soft and sensitive voice that perfectly matches his laid-back 1970s California pop... [+] Read More

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Iron and Wine is the stage name for one Samuel Beam, a Florida native that made his name by releasing lo-fi tapes in Miami. After catching the attention of Sub Pop honcho Jonathan Poneman, Iron and Wine was asked to send material to the label for submission. After a few months, two CDs arrived in the mail, both being full length albums. Poneman... [+] Read More

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When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century. Uncompromising and iconoclastic, Mitchell confounded expectations at every turn; restlessly innovative, her music evolved from deeply personal folk stylings into pop, jazz, avant-garde, and even world music,... [+] Read More

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27 year-old José González is a rising star in Scandinavia, with the world at his feet. Adored by legions of critics and punters alike, José's full debut single shot straight into the Swedish Top Ten. Now he's being widely tipped as the 'next big thing' to emerge from Gothenburg in the wake of Soundtrack (Of Our Lives) - though José's music is a... [+] Read More

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Over the clatter of piano and strum of an electric guitar that opens his fourth studio album, Josh Ritter leaps into rapid-fire lyrics that reference Joan of Arc, Calamity Jane and Florence Nightingale, all of whom seem to be stuck together in the belly of a whale. As the follow-up to last year's critically-acclaimed album The Animal Years, The... [+] Read More

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A singular talent who passed almost unnoticed during his brief lifetime, Nick Drake produced several albums of chilling, somber beauty. With hindsight, these have come to be recognized as peak achievements of both the British folk-rock scene and the entire rock singer/songwriter genre. Sometimes compared to Van Morrison, Drake in fact resembled... [+] Read More

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Singer/songwriter Rocky Votolato was born in 1978, spending his childhood on a 50-acre horse farm in rural Frost, TX (population 647), located 100 miles south of Dallas. Growing up amidst a backing soundtrack of Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, and Johnny Cash, he had a semi-unconventional upbringing, as his father was a member of the Dallas-based... [+] Read More

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