Best known for his cover of Bread's "Everything I Own", Ken Boothe was the rocksteady superstar whose down-to-earth soulful delivery earned comparisons to Wilson Pickett's. He hit the ground running wi …

He's a guitar picker so good that the Stones wanted him to join their band. He's the man that Hollywood turns to when they need music that's moody and magnificent. He's a one-man archivist of roots mus …

It started out as a diverting side project — a way for Colin Linden, Stephen Fearing, and Tom Wilson to salute the artists (like Willie P. Bennett) who meant a great deal to them. But now, Blackie & Th …

Hailing from the Texan creative hub of Denton (a small town with a couple of colleges and a whole bunch of resident musicians), Midlake began life as a jazz-funk quintet in which current frontman/guita …

Schooled in the Jamaican tradition of prodigy DJs (he was a sound system hero age ten) Beenie Man — born Moses Davis — is a true superstar of dancehall reggae. Our Essentials salute to the man who gave …

Dancehall and ragga superstar Bounty Killer (born Rodney Basil Price) carries a reputation as big as his talent: He caught a stray bullet in Kingston as a young kid, has maintained a high-profile feud  …

It's impossible to assess the work of dancehall icon Buju Banton without mentioning the homophobia that courses through a track like "Boom Bye Bye" — but that's not the full picture. This Essentials ov …

Spiritual messenger, modern day reggae icon, prime exponent of "conscious dancehall", poster boy for the anti-colonial Bobo Ashanti creed . . . Sizzla is all these things, and much more. Born Miguel Co …

You want pub rock? Say hello to the Angels, one of the movement's cornerstones, whose lineup continues to revolve (after more than three decades) round the Brewster brothers, Rick and John. The band as …