HOWARD BENSON  From aircraft to songcraft and from aerospace to star power            By Michael Gallant For multiplatinum, Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson, the crucial skill that led to success in the music business was … aerospace engineering? “Music has a math component to me,” Benson explains. “It’s complicated and fun, and I’m blessed to do it every day. Plus the same organizational skills apply. Just instead of making... 

GRACE POTTER She and her Nocturnals look a little more glam, but they’re grittier than ever   By Russell Hall  Back in 2010, fans of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals had a couple of big changes to deal with. First there were two new members, bass player Catherine Popper and guitarist Benny Yurco. But for listeners who had been following the band since it first hit the jam-band circuit in the early 2000s, the second change might have been even... 

FOLK FORWARD – ESSENTIAL FOLK DUST BOWL BALLADS (1940)  WOODY GUTHRIE  In a whirl of autobiography and activism, Guthrie reinvents American song. The Oklahoma native recorded this 1940 gem in two days, laying the groundwork for thousands of guitar-strumming followers. These are dusty, hard-bitten ballads that somehow gleam and soar more than 70 years after their creation. THE FREEWHEELIN’ BOB DYLAN (1963)  BOB DYLAN The folk bard’s... 

FOLK FORWARD – NEXT GENERATION Shel SHEL Based in Fort Collins, Colo., sisters Sarah, Hannah, Eva and Liza Holbrook are classically trained musicians whose songs meld ethereal harmonies, out-of-the-box melodies and remarkable musicianship. Producer Brent Maher, who’s worked with everyone from Ike & Tina Turner to the Judds, co-produced SHEL’s When the Dragon Came Down EP and is working on a full-length follow-up. John Fullbright JOHN... 

  FOLK FORWARD How a sound born of tradition is thriving in the modern day   By Peter Cooper It’s the other “F” word. And like its more obscene counterpart, it means different things to different people in different contexts. In the 1950s, it was sweater-vested political subversives. Later, it was shape-shifting musical revolutionaries and introspective singer-songwriters. It has been used to describe troubadours who specialize in journalistic... 

MEAT LOAF  Telling big stories, going for broke and having a hell of a time “I think dramatically,” declares Meat Loaf. “My albums are big, complicated stories.” Indeed, nearly every project Meat Loaf undertakes is bigger than life, starting with 1977’s smash rock opera Bat Out of Hell. Produced by Todd Rundgren and composed by classically trained songwriter Jim Steinman, the album has sold more than 14 million copies in the U.S. alone. Meat... 

KAISER CHIEFS One new album in a seemingly infinite number of variations     For its fourth album, the English group Kaiser Chiefs posted 22 new songs on its website and let fans assemble and purchase their own 10-track “bespoke” versions. The band, best known for the songs “I Predict a Riot” and “Ruby,” assembled its own iteration last year for release overseas under the title The Future Is Medieval. Yet another version is out now... 

NNXT HOMETOWN: Atlanta INFLUENCES: Peter Gabriel, Imogen Heap, New Kids on the Block ALBUM: Shut Your Trapper Keeper, out now WEBSITE: nnxtmusic.com  From age 4, Jessica Gore was a piano prodigy who spent much of her childhood playing in classical competitions. But her musical direction changed entirely a few years ago, when she got her hands on a four-track digital recorder. “It totally blew my mind that more than one instrument or voice could... 

SUGAR + THE HI-LOWS HOMETOWN: Nashville MEMBERS: Trent Dabbs (guitar, vocals), Amy Stroup (vocals) ALBUM: Sugar + the Hi-Lows, out now WEBSITE: sugarandthehilows.com The old-school sound of Sugar + the Hi-Lows was born three years ago, when Trent Dabbs and Amy Stroup got together to write songs in Nashville. Dabbs brought along a vintage amplifier, which turned the conversation toward their favorite music from the 1950s and ’60s. Before long they’d... 

BEN HOWARD HOMETOWN: Totnes, Devon, England influences: Nick Drake, John Martyn, Van Morrison ALBUM: Every Kingdom, due out in April WEBSITE: benhowardmusic.co.uk Howard picked up his mother’s guitar when he was 8, inspired by his parents’ love for folky singer-songwriters of the 1960s and ’70s. “That’s what we’d listen to in the house and in the car,” he says. His debut album was recorded in cellist India Bourne’s barn in the English... 

WILSON PHILLIPS   Three members of classic pop royalty dedicate an album to the ones they love    The members of Wilson Phillips first drew worldwide attention for their quintuple-platinum 1990 self-titled debut—and for their status as rock royalty. Sisters Wendy and Carnie Wilson were the daughters of Beach Boy Brian Wilson, while Chynna Phillips’ parents were John and Michelle Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas. The group has always... 

SPIRITUALIZED  Crossing continents in a quest to find the heart and see the light   Jason “J. Spaceman” Pierce, frontman and guiding light of English rock band Spiritualized, adamantly disagrees with those who think music must follow rules. After all, he’s been swirling rock, R&B, pop and more into richly textured sonic landscapes throughout his career. But there’s one rule in which he believes fiercely: There’s a delicate but real... 

JESSIE BAYLIN Putting a new spark into her career with unexpected help from her grandmother    “Three days before I was to start recording this album, the label cut my budget in half,” says Jessie Baylin. “Then the next day, they cut it another quarter.” The Nashville-based singer-songwriter took the hint. “They listened to the demos and didn’t think I had the songs,” she recalls with a sigh. “They wanted to put me with hit writers,... 

M. Ward The “Him” of She & Him takes a confident step back to center stage   After releasing 2009’s Hold Time, Portland-based singer and songwriter M. Ward largely put his solo career on hold. He toured and made albums with Monsters of Folk—an indie-rock supergroup also featuring My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis—and She & Him, the duo Ward founded with actress and singer Zooey Deschanel.... 

COWBOY JUNKIES  Bringing a nomadic journey to a close, while looking ahead to the next  After more than 25 years together, the members of Cowboy Junkies have but one goal: “Survival,” says guitarist and primary songwriter Michael Timmins with a laugh. Yet their recent activities suggest broader ambition than that. Over the last 18 months the Canadian band has released a quartet of separate but linked albums dubbed The Nomad Series. “We had... 

JOAN OSBORNE  Bringing it on home to the blues and soul of her early days  From the moment she lit into Sonny Boy Williamson II’s “Help Me” on her triple-platinum 1995 debut, Relish, it was clear that Kentucky-born Joan Osborne had a natural feel for gutbucket blues. She’s explored those roots regularly ever since, but never so directly as on her new album, the all-covers affair Bring It On Home. With the help from her co-producer and... 

JASON MRAZ A talk about the meaning of music, finding the right sound and his favorite four-letter word. Jason Mraz is in a noisy Los Angeles rehearsal hall, taking a break from doing something that doesn’t come easily to him: telling other people what to do. Mraz first emerged from the Southern California coffeehouse scene just over a decade ago armed only with a guitar, a sweetly melodious tenor voice and a rapidly growing stack of original... 

“THEY KNEW HOW TO HAVE FUN TOGETHER,” SAYS photographer Norman Seeff, remembering his high-energy 1982 session for the Pointer Sisters’ So Excited! album (the final cover shot featured Anita, June and Ruth, from left). “I had them dance and perform four or five songs. They were lively and vibrant and a joy to work with.” Seeff recalls that youngest sister June needed some encouragement from her siblings. “She was hypersensitive,” he... 

  PHOTOGRAPHER NORMAN SEEFF WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS SESSION WITH the late Whitney Houston in 1990, at the height of her career. “I viewed her as a towering master of emotional expression, someone whose voice was transcendent,” he says. “I was thrilled about the opportunity.” Seeff rented a large studio for the shoot, replete with clothing and makeup specialists. “We had a substantial team, and she brought her own people,” he says.... 

  PHOTOGRAPHER NORMAN SEEFF’S 1975 LOS ANGELES shoot with husband-and-wife R&B duo Ike and Tina Turner was among the most memorable of his storied career. “The footage was riveting,” he says. “They performed an amazing version of ‘Nutbush City Limits’ right there in my studio. There was incredible energy and vitality between them.” Seeff recalls that the couple’s contrasting personalities made their interactions all the more... 

John Mellencamp was relatively unknown when photographer Norman Seeff shot this 1979 session. “He was very young, kind of baby-faced,” recalls Seeff. “But I was blown away by his vitality.” Seeff was also impressed by Mellencamp’s authenticity, a trait reflected in his casual attire. “It was as if he was saying, ‘This is who I am. I come with nothing but a denim shirt and a cigarette,’” Seeff says. “There was nothing pre-conceptual... 

    “WORKING WITH A ROCK GROUP IS ALWAYS A challenge,” says photographer Norman Seeff, remembering his 1979 shoot for the cover of Van Halen’s third album, Women and Children First. “There are times when a group comes in for a session and I perceive there is tension among the members.” One sure way to defuse that tension, he says, was to ask the musicians to bring their instruments—and sure enough, Eddie Van Halen was soon... 

  PHOTOGRAPHER NORMAN SEEFF ALREADY KNEW HE was dealing with a unique artist when Frank Zappa arrived at his L.A. studio for this 1976 session. “Frank was very different from other people I photographed,” recalls Seeff. “Many artists are imaginative, but they aren’t conceptual. Frank was both.” Seeff remembers that Zappa seemed at first to be improvising, but soon made clear he had a direction in mind. “Without my telling him anything,... 

  THIS 1985 LOS ANGELES SESSION WITH THE LEGENDARY RAY Charles had a permanent impact on rock photographer Norman Seeff’s methods. “Within a couple minutes of beginning the session, we were involved in a deeply revealing conversation about his inner creative process,” Seeff recalls. “All the while, Ray was playing and demonstrating the power of emotional expression on the piano I had rented for the session. We got classic Ray shots... 

  CARLY SIMON WAS DRESSED FAIRLY CONSERVATIVELY when she turned up at legendary photographer Norman Seeff’s Los Angeles studio to shoot the cover for her 1975 album Playing Possum. But after a couple of glasses of wine, Seeff posed a provocative question: “Well, don’t you have something on under that?” Simon gamely stripped down to her black teddy and began dancing around the studio to the Shaft soundtrack as Seeff snapped away. “It... 

ESPERANZA SPALDING  A rising jazz star talks pop, popularity and the lure of the radio  The internet was abuzz when the name of last year’s Best New Artist winner was announced at the Grammys: Oregon-born jazz singer and bass player Esperanza Spalding. She triumphed over better-known names like teen idol Justin Bieber, whose fans’ over-the-top outrage extended to online death threats. “I don’t take it personally,” says Spalding, 27.... 

LIONEL RICHIE A country boy from Tuskegee reconnects with his unlikely roots  By Russell Hall Lionel Richie is a giant of soul, R&B and pop music, having scored hit singles and sold albums in the multimillions since the mid-1970s—first with his group the Commodores and, since 1982, as a solo artist. But the music that first caught the ear of this Tuskegee, Ala., native was very different from either the dance-floor funk of the Commodores or... 

THE CRANBERRIES Dolores O’Riordan and company bring the magic back to life  the Cranberries skyrocketed to international fame with their debut, 1993’s quintuple-platinum Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? But by 2003, it was time for the Irish group to take a breather. “I just wanted to not be in the Cranberries and not be famous,” says frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan. After making two solo albums, O’Riordan recently reunited... 

DIERKS BENTLEY A country superstar crisscrosses America to find home     “The last year’s been a blur of  asphalt, recording studios and songwriting,” says Arizona native Dierks Bentley, 36. “It’s hard work, but I love what I do. Every record you make, you have to pour more of yourself into it.” His previous effort, 2009’s Up on the Ridge, found him exploring bluegrass and roots music—but the new Home is a return to the muscular... 

DR. DOG  Fresh faces, familiar places and a newfound urge to have a good time    On their last album, the members of Dr. Dog tried to teach themselves new tricks. They left their familiar Philadelphia practice space and studio, Meth Beach, and enlisted the help of an outside producer. The result was 2010’s Shame, Shame—an album that, for all its groovy nods to the Beatles and Beach Boys, was uncharacteristically somber. “It was sort of a... 

SKYLAR GREY  You know her voice from hip-hop hits—now it’s time to get to know her  Not many artists rack up four Grammy nominations before releasing a debut album, but Skylar Grey’s career has hardly followed a traditional path. After writing hits and singing hooks for acts like Eminem, Dr. Dre and Lupe Fiasco, Grey is preparing to release her own debut album, Invinsible. “Being a songwriter is a great life, but I can’t imagine ever... 

GAVIN DeGRAW  Keeping a positive attitude even while  taking a beating—literally   “It didn’t break my will, but it did break my nose,” cracks Gavin DeGraw about the unwelcome experience of being assaulted last August in Manhattan. The native New Yorker was attacked by three men and then hit by a taxi as he stumbled away. His injuries forced him to cancel tour dates as he readied his new album, Sweeter, but he betrays no bitterness. “I... 

CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS Keeping string-band music history alive while pushing it into the future  Last year had its ups and downs for Carolina Chocolate Drops. The North Carolina string band won a Grammy for 2010’s Genuine Negro Jig album, but experienced the loss of founding member Justin Robinson and the addition of multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins. The combination of heightened expectations and seismic changes in the band was a recipe for... 

KASABIAN  Hitting a new groove after 15 years of   boundary-breaking music  It’s 10 a.m. in Australia, and Kasabian guitarist Sergio Pizzorno can’t quite stifle a yawn—it’s early by rock-star standards, yet late by new-parent requirements. “I’m pretty good on just a few hours’ sleep,” says Pizzorno, who fits both descriptions. He is energized by the positive reaction thus far to Kasabian’s latest album, Velociraptor! “It’s... 

Bonnie Raitt One of music’s most beloved icons slides back into the rock ’n’ roll slipstream. Bonnie Raitt is always listening. “My ear’s always cocked for a possible direction,” she says. “Something that’s inspirational, either a song I want to do or a songwriter I want to investigate further. We’ve got hundreds of CDs in our collection and files on our computer. I take songs with me on my iPhone and listen every day when I go... 

SUSAN JUSTICE HOMETOWN: New York City INFLUENCES: Tracy Chapman, Death Cab for Cutie, Alanis Morissette ALBUM: Eat Dirt, due out in 2012 WEBSITE: susanjusticemusic.com Aruba-born Susan Justice grew up traveling the world with her itinerant parents and nine siblings as part of a controversial religious sect called the Family, spreading the group’s message through music. “Sometimes we would stay for a few months, but most of the time it was a new... 

KARMIN HOMETOWN: Brookline, Mass. MEMBERS: Amy Heidemann (vocals, guitar), Nick Noonan (keyboards, trombone, vocals) ALBUM: As yet untitled, due out in 2012 WEBSITE: karminmusic.com Nebraska-born Heidemann and Maine native Noonan met and began performing together while attending Boston’s Berklee College of Music. “We were like, ‘We’ve tried all these different things, we should really do something ourselves because nobody is ever going to... 

ALLIE MOSS HOMETOWN: Long Branch, N.J. INFLUENCES: David Bazan, the Cardigans, Ella Fitzgerald ALBUM: Late Bloomer, out now WEBSITE: alliemoss.com Having cut her teeth playing guitar (and briefly acting as tour manager) for indie-pop singer and songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, Allie Moss stepped into the spotlight for real when an English telecommunications company contacted her through her Facebook page about using her solo song “Corner” in a TV... 

OTIS TAYLOR   A self-described musical “reporter” takes a hard look at a broken world   Otis Taylor watches through the window as the snow falls outside. Most would find it serene—a dusting on the mountains surrounding Boulder, Colo., the place he calls home. But not Taylor. “It’s dark and overcast,” he says with a shrug. The bluesman, 63, readily describes himself as a pessimist, one who warns that he has little patience for answering... 

KELLIE PICKLER The country songbird’s third album offers a shot of something a little stronger   “Where’s Tammy Wynette when you need her?” sings Kellie Pickler on the opening cut of her third and latest album, 100 Proof. The tune refers to a broken love affair, but Pickler might just as well be pointing the question toward modern-day country music itself. As a child in North Carolina, Pickler’s grandparents fed her a steady diet of songs... 

WARREN HAYNES A powerhouse guitarist stands alone to put his stamp on a classic sound   Between his very high-profile day jobs in Gov’t Mule and the Allman Brothers Band, virtuoso guitarist Warren Haynes isn’t lacking for musical outlets. But when he found himself with a batch of songs that weren’t suited to either group, he diverted them to Man in Motion, his first solo studio album since 1993. “They were songs I’d written that I’d... 

HEARTLESS BASTARDS Erika Wennerstrom aims her latest songs directly at the pain of heartbreak After the end of a nine-year relationship, Heartless Bastards frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom went for a drive. As she made her way across the nation from West Texas to Ohio, she thought hard about what she wanted to express about her experience through music. Once she figured it out, she booked some studio time and got ready to spill her guts. “Then there... 

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS  After almost three decades of cleverness, this duo is still right on track   “We didn’t get into music to meet girls or to strike a pose,” says John Flansburgh, who formed the clever alt-rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell in 1982. “It was about having crazy ideas and taking those ideas as far as we could. A lot of people find the idea of humor in music childish, but what we do is post-adolescent. It’s... 

NADA SURF Revisiting the past, a rock trio discovers an unexpected need for speed   In early 2010, Nada Surf treated hometown fans in New York City to full performances of what were then its three most recent albums. The material in question spanned 2002 to 2008—years in which the trio enjoyed a remarkable second act, cultivating a newfound cult success that eclipsed their lone mainstream pop hit, 1996’s “Popular.” Taking stock of the Nada... 

KATHLEEN EDWARDS  Digging herself out of a familiar hole, with a hand from a new friend  Since her 2003 debut album, Failer, Kathleen Edwards has gradually honed her craft as a singer and songwriter whose finely wrought character sketches teem with both sardonic humor and knife’s-edge emotional danger. “And then part of me felt like I had fallen a little bit too complacent,” says Edwards, an Ottawa, Ontario, native who now lives in Toronto.... 

KATE BUSH For this pioneering songstress, inspiration literally fell from the sky   “Shimmerglisten.” “Creaky-creaky.” “Boomerangablanca.” The Eskimos don’t really have 50 words for snow, but Kate Bush does. Featuring guest turns from Elton John, Stephen Fry and Bush’s 12-year-old son Bertie, her new 50 Words for Snow album is a quietly riveting meditation on the white stuff. “I started thinking about how it feels when it snows,... 

THE FRAY The journey to success was tough—and they have the scars to prove it “This is the first time we got to make the record we wanted to,” declares Isaac Slade of the Fray’s third album, Scars & Stories. The group went through plenty to reach that point. Formed by singer and pianist Slade, guitarists Dave Welsh and Joe King and drummer Ben Wysocki in the early-2000s church-music scene in Denver, the Fray found its secular breakthrough... 

KEITH JARRETT After four decades, a piano giant still plucks inspiration from thin air By Jeff Tamarkin Jazz is in part the art of improvisation—and legendary pianist Keith Jarrett takes the concept to its extreme. Up until the moment he presses down the keys, he hasn’t a clue as to how he will begin or what will follow. “There’s this nanosecond, or maybe it’s an eternity, between sitting at the piano ready to play something and actually... 

SEAN GARRETT    Does this R&B hitmaker want to change the world through music? Yeah!             By Michael Gallant Atlanta native Sean Garrett grew up the son of an Army man, moving along with his family to wherever his father might be stationed. Everywhere he found himself, including a variety of military bases across England and Germany, young Garrett had his ears wide open. “Living abroad and listening to so many variations of music... 

ANI DiFRANCO  A hard-driving, hard-rocking modern folk pioneer learns to take her time  For a decade and a half, Ani DiFranco was among the most prolific acts you could name. Between 1990 and 2007, the Buffalo, N.Y., native released 16 studio albums of new material, not to mention a handful of live collections, compilations and EPs. But the latest, ¿Which Side Are You On?, is her first new offering in almost four years—and the primary reason...