Since making his recording debut in 1986, Lyle Lovett has become one of popular music's most eclectic and colorful performers. Never quite comfortable in Nashville, he initially gained inspiration from …

Stephen Sondheim - winner of more Tonyr Awards than any other composer - single-handedly reinvented the Broadway musical, tackling out-there subjects in brilliant, adventurous ways, and illuminating hi …

There's something for everyone in Sondheim's work - try the satirical toe-tapper "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid," a breezy standout from the soundtrack to the movie version of his first hit as a compo …

Unrepentant socialist, unabashed romantic, unflinching observer of the human condition, Billy Bragg is the overlooked genius in a T-shirt and jeans. Part Woody Guthrie, part Noam Chomsky, he's not at a …

Not only is Kitaro well-versed in synthesizer and guitar, but he is also likely to turn up on harp or percussion, and he freely mixes modern instruments with the shakuhachi flute, the taiko

We'll never forget the Flamings Lips' bizarre appearance on Beverly Hills 90210, a scene that ended in the priceless line, "You know, I've never been a big fan of alternative music, but t …

As stunning as the Flaming Lips' latter-day albums have been (the sputtering, gun-turret percussion of "Worm Mountain," the starry-eyed hooks of "Are You a Hypnotist??"), they've got a hefty stack of < …

Given that he's blessed with a best-in-show musical pedigree, movie-star good looks, and the fastest right hand of any Irish guitarist in history, it's a little bit surprising that the young Barry Moor …

Because Bloom is such a mesmerizing performer, it's easy to overlook the fact that, like fellow Irishmen Bono and Van Morrison, he's no slouch with the pen. In "Mary Watches Everything," Luka tiptoes i …