AGAINST ME! Drawing inspiration from Florida, fatherhood and a cross-country journey Driving across the country allows plenty of time for contemplation, which is how Against Me! singer Tom Gabel spent the trip last year on his way from his native Florida to Los Angeles to start recording sessions for the band’s new album, White Crosses. Gabel converted those thoughtful hours on the road into song lyrics, resulting in a batch of vivid punk tunes... 

GRACE POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS Casting aside comparisons and coming Grace Potter & the Nocturnals had always worn their 1960s and ’70s influences on their sleeves, as their charismatic frontwoman drew comparisons to greats ranging from Bonnie Raitt to Janis Joplin. But with the release of their self-titled third album, Potter and company have truly come into their own. “This time around there’s more of an identity,” says Potter. “We’ve... 

DIERKS BENTLEY A country star rediscovers a teenage love affair with bluegrass Dierks Bentley was a 19-year-old from Phoenix, Ariz., aiming for a career as a country singer when he walked into Nashville’s Station Inn nightclub, famous as the stomping ground to many of the city’s finest bluegrass pickers. What he heard there changed his life. “Up to that point I always thought of bluegrass music as being an older generation’s genre,” he... 

DEVO De-evolution is real and the future is now Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh used to be frustrated that the band was so frequently misunderstood. Today, many of the concepts the group put forth 30 years ago are all too familiar. “We talked about de-evolution, and people thought we were crazy,” Mothersbaugh says. “We predicted one day there would be something called Music Television, and our record companies and our managers said, ‘Why are... 

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS For this pure pop collective, the more’s the merrier–marching band included The New Pornographers’ A.C. Newman has a confession to make. “Some people might think a song like ‘Daydream Believer’ by the Monkees is cheesy,” he says. “But every time I hear the song, I think it’s so beautiful it makes me want to cry.” Fans of the Newman-led collective, which just released its fifth studio album, Together, know... 

WIDESPREAD PANIC For their latest, the masters of improv draw upon comedy and tragedy alike Widespread Panic frontman John Bell sees a sharp distinction between being a so-called “jam band” and being a band that’s adept at improvisation. “It’s the difference between playing while you’re asleep and playing while you’re awake,” he says. “To apply yourself properly to improvisation, you need to have an awareness of the other players... 

BILL CHARLAP AND RENEE ROSNES A pair of virtuoso jazz pianists makes beautiful music together Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes are not like most couples. By the time they married in 2007, each was already a world-renowned jazz pianist with an impressive discography and a packed touring itinerary. The living room of their New Jersey home is taken up mostly by two grand Steinways, and their piano stools are where they prefer to spend their leisure hours.... 

THE HOLD STEADY Aging gracefully, struggling mightily and thinking positively On the Hold Steady’s fifth album, Heaven Is Whenever, singer Craig Finn continues his evolution from a scenester reveling in gritty detail to an elder statesman with wisdom to impart. “On the last record, I was concerned with aging and the attempt to age gracefully, which is a tricky business in rock ’n’ roll,” Finn says. “This record sounds more like it came... 

BETTYE LaVETTE A mighty soul legend takes on classic-rock heavyweights Bettye LaVette admits that she wasn’t listening to rock ’n’ roll radio at  the time the 1960s and ’70s classics she tackles on her new album, Interpretations: The British  Rock Songbook, were popular. “I was listening to mostly black radio then,” she says. “I’m a rhythm & blues singer, and that’s where my music was being played. I had no particular teenage... 

JOSH RITTER He thought he was cursed—until a mummy showed the way home Josh Ritter albums have been fueled by one dominant emotion—and for the new So Runs the World Away, that emotion was terror. “For the first time in my life, I felt, ‘I don’t belong here,’” Ritter says. “I was thinking it was time for me to do something else, to move on to something other than music. I felt like a phony, and that terrified me. It was an awful... 

MINUS THE BEAR A little less math + a little more groove =  maximum “Minus-the-Bear-ness” When Minus the Bear guitarist Dave Knudson listens back to his band’s 2007 album Planet of Ice, he hears a complex, “proggy” deviation from the Seattle quintet’s more dance-oriented early material. “We were going for it,” Knudson says—“it” being a level of precise, hyper-clever riffing and arranging that, over the last decade, has earned... 

FREEDY JOHNSTON After eight years, he’s back thanks to some discipline in the studio Freedy Johnston didn’t mean to spend eight years between albums. “I tried to make it a couple times on my own, and it didn’t work out for various reasons,” says the singer-songwriter. He discovered the key to his new Rain on the City album when he brought in producer Richard McLaurin as his collaborator. “You learn some lessons and go down one hallway,... 

MIDLAKE Slow and steady wins the race for this indie breakout band McKenzie Smith, Eric Pulido, Eric Nichelson, Tim Smith, Paul Alexander After exploring classic-rock influences like Fleetwood Mac and Crosby, Stills & Nash on their breakthrough album, 2006’s The Trials of Van Occupanther, the members of Midlake wanted a new direction. They found it in the folk-based tradition of vintage British acts such as Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention—then... 

Dave Haywood, Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley LADY ANTEBELLUM The hit country trio takes control of its own chemistry “If we could combine all our talent into one person, we’d be one hell of a good songwriter,” jokes Charles Kelley, one-third of the Grammy-nominated country trio Lady Antebellum. Kelley and bandmates Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood are doing just fine as it is. After finding fame with 2007’s platinum-certified... 

Billy Martin, Chris Wood, John Medeski MEDESKI MARTIN & WOOD Improvisation is key—just don’t call ’em a jam band In late 2008, jazz-rock trio Medeski Martin & Wood pondered ways to inspire themselves to write new material. They found that inspiration in the animal kingdom. “There’s a bird, a certain canary, that comes up with a new song every year, which it never repeats in its lifetime,” explains keyboardist John... 

JULIANA HATFIELD Alt-rocker strips down old school—and finds peace Juliana Hatfield’s 2008 album How to Walk Away was a polished effort, recorded in a New York City studio over a long time with a large cast of musicians. For her latest, Peace and Love, she elected to take precisely the opposite tack. “This time I wanted to be alone,” she says. “I wanted to see what would come out of me with no one else involved.” Writing and recording... 

OMARION Think you know this smooth R&B star? Think again Forget what you might have heard about R&B artist Omarion. “I think people misconstrue who I am a lot of the time,” he says. “I blame it on the illusion of the game. You might think Omarion is going out to the club, partying and having an orgy with 10 women. If a rumor came out like that, people might believe it. I felt like I really wanted to share more of who I am through my... 

Vampire Weekend VAMPIRE WEEKEND Discovering inspiration in contradictions and cleverness Sure, Vampire Weekend singer  and guitarist Ezra Koenig was an English major at noted Columbia University and taught junior high English. And yeah, on the band’s new Contra album he rhymes “horchata” with “balaclava,” among other clever linguistic feats. What of it? “It’s a criticism people try to lodge at  us,” Koenig says with a resigned chuckle....