July 14, 2001 approximately 11 months (count ‘em – 11) after Five For Fighting and John Ondrasik released America Town, John was on stage at XPN’s Singer-Songwriter Weekend and still on the brink of commercial success. John sat down at the piano and played the opening chords to “Superman,”

Trey Anastasio moves in a whole new direction on Shine, his first album for Columbia Records. The former Phish guitarist, singer and songwriter continues to evolve and this time around he's exchanged the grooves and full band arrangements that made his 2002 solo debut so exciting for a leaner more pop and rock oriented sound. Definitely gone are the long, noodly jams that brought Phish to jamband acclaim.

Some quick history: In 1993 the seminal alternative-country band Uncle Tupelo broke up due to differences between their co-leaders. Jeff Tweedy went on to form Wilco, and Jay Farrar went on to form Son Volt - the more traditional leaning of the two bands that resulted from the split.

Three years after his post 9/11 inspired rock record The Rising , and the incredible tour that followed with the E Street Band, the Boss returns with a sparse, folk and country inspired collection of songs. Many of these songs were written in 1997 on the road during Springsteen's solo The Ghost Of Tom Joad tour, and were intended to be a follow-up to Springsteen's 1995 John Steinbeck-inspired acoustic record.

Music lovers are walking away speechless and awestruck from her live shows. The music press is tripping over its feet in jubilation, praising her eclectic debut as one of the best of the year so far. And with good reason: 19 year old Nellie McKay’s tin-pan alley-esque social commentaries are draped in comparisons to Doris Day, Randy Newman, Eminem, even Linkin Park and Tom Lehrer.

July 14, 2001 approximately 11 months (count ‘em – 11) after Five For Fighting and John Ondrasik released America Town, John was on stage at XPN’s Singer-Songwriter Weekend and still on the brink of commercial success. John sat down at the piano and played the opening chords to “Superman,”

The soundtrack to the Civil War film Cold Mountain is a collection of old-timey traditional country, folk, blues and gospel music in the same vein as the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou. Produced by the extraordinary T-Bone Burnett whose work as producer of 'O Brother' has equal import to his work with Counting Crows, Wallflowers and other pop bands, Cold Mountain is a slightly darker, more bucolic first cousin to O Brother.

Cory Chisel is one of those rare, contemporary folk artists whose authenticity is indubitable. No matter how you define authentic, you'd be hard pressed to put a finger on anything not-so when listening. From the emotion to the influences to the background, Chisel doesn't let one iota of insincerity into his work. For this reason (and because of his undeniable talent) XPN is choosing him as the Artist to Watch for October 2009.