Ben Folds<\/b>
\nCombining musical virtuosity with a punk sensibility, Ben Folds emerged on the scene during the \u201890s alternative rock era. Notably lacking a guitarist, Ben Folds Five crafted a \u201cpunk rock for sissies\u201d sound that nonetheless had all the energy of guitar rock, with intelligent (and often sardonic) lyrics to match. \u201cBrick\u201d was a deeply emotional ballad, and \u201cThe Ballad of Who Could Care Less\u201d and \u201cKate\u201d were rousing singalong tunes with a strong pop foundation. The trio went inactive (with occasional reunions), paving the way for Folds\u2019 solo career. His solo debut, Rockin\u2019 the Suburbs<\/i> had the misfortune of being released on September 11, 2001; it contained the sharply humorous title track; an inspired music video was also released. Folds\u2019 brand of intelligent rock with bratty undertones has won him critical acclaim and an ardent following. His acclaimed 2025 release Live with the National Symphony Orchestra<\/i> was released shortly after his resignation in protest from his position as the artistic advisor to the Kennedy Center\u2019s NSO.<\/p>\n
Eric Johnson<\/b>
\nEver since he broke through with his third album (1990\u2019s Ah Via Musicom<\/i>), Austin, Texas guitarist Eric Johnson has been a prominent musical figure, a widely admired guitar hero. From his start, Johnson wedded dazzling technique to a strong melodic sense, gaining fans along the way. His pre-fame work included a time leading Electromagnets, a fusion outfit compared to John McLAughlin\u2019s Mahavishnu Orchestra. One his solo career got underway, Guitar World<\/i> rated his Grammy Award-winning single \u201cCliffs of Dover\u201d among the top 20 greatest guitar solos of all time. Via solo albums and collaborations with fellow top-rated musicians like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, Johnson made his name as an electric guitarist, but the Texas-born musician is passionate and expressive on acoustic as well. To date he has released two albums featuring acoustic guitar. The seven-time Grammy nominee\u2019s latest release is 2022\u2019s double-album The Book of Making \/ Yesterday Meets Today<\/i> and a digital-only companion album, Takeouts.<\/i> Fronting a power trio, Johnson\u2019s current tour is billed as Texaphonic and features drummer Tal Bergman and Daniel Kimbro on bass.<\/p>\n
Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band<\/b> The Black Keys<\/b> The Human League<\/b> Ben Folds Combining musical virtuosity with a punk sensibility, Ben Folds emerged on the scene during the \u201890s alternative rock era. Notably lacking a guitarist, Ben Folds Five crafted a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31532,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31531\/revisions\/31532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIn some cynical quarters, Ringo Starr has been held up as an example of how luck is often a factor in an artist earning fame. The last member to join the Beatles is sometimes noted as the group\u2019s least creative. That demeaning perspective overlooks Starr\u2019s role as \u2013 if not the greatest drummer in history, then \u2013 the greatest Beatles-style drummer in history. With Ringo at the kit, the band made some of the most enduring music of the 20th<\/sup> century. Only rarely did he write songs, and only slightly more often did he sing with the Beatles. But his place in history would be secure had he done nothing after the group ended in 1969. Happily, Ringo embarked upon a solo career, and continues to record today. And since forming his All-Starr Band in 1989, his primary focus has been in leading the revolving cast of musicians \u2013 drawn from acts we\u2019ve known for all these years \u2013 for concerts full of fun and nostalgia. The current (and 16th<\/sup>) lineup features Toto\u2019s Steve Lukather, Colin Hay from Men at Work and more.<\/p>\n
\nComing out of Akron, Ohio in the early 2000s, the Black Keys quickly established their place at the front of the garage rock revival. To be sure, there had been rock duos before. But the pairing of Dan Auerbach (guitar and vocals) with drummer Patrick Carney started with a blues-based foundation, drawing from other American forms including soul and classic rock to craft a sound that was distinctive even while being rooted in tradition. As expressed on early releases like 2002\u2019s The Big Come Up<\/i> and Thickfreakness<\/i> (2003), the Black Keys\u2019 stripped-down aesthetic emphasized simplicity, with Auerbach\u2019s distorted guitar and rough-hewn vocals, all wrapped in a deep groove. Subsequent releases found the duo widening their sonic approach and making fuller use of studio technology. While earlier albums were critically lauded, by the time of 2010\u2019s Brothers<\/i>, the duo was enjoying multi-Platinum album sales and worldwide success. The Black Keys landed five Grammy Awards between 2011 and 2013. The duo\u2019s most recent album, Peaches!<\/i> was released in May 2026; that record immediately charted in 15 countries.<\/p>\n
\nIn 1977 when The Human League came together in Sheffield, England, there was virtually nothing else like them. Combining the experimental bent of analog synthesis with a pop sensibility, the group fronted by Philip Oakley cut a distinctive figure on the music scene. The band\u2019s first two albums earned some positive notices but sold poorly on initial release. By 1980 the original lineup had fractured, but Oakley and Philip Adrian Wright carried on, recruiting new vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley to the group. And when The Human League\u2019s third album \u2013 1981\u2019s Dare<\/i> \u2013 was released, it broke through in a big way. Pop culture caught up with the band just in time for the dawn of MTV; the band\u2019s icy-cool demeanor meshed well with the danceable beats and innovative synth textures. 2011\u2019s Credo<\/i> is the group\u2019s most recent studio release, but The Human League continues as a popular and engaging live act, with Oakley, Catherall and Sulley still on board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"