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Well known as ambassadors of reggae, Third World is a Jamaican outfit that came together in the 1970s and has since become something of an institution. They've had 35 years of experience. Despite several line-up changes over the years, their sound has remained just as fresh and inspiring over the decades. Incorporating Jamaican folk music as well as pop, R&B, rap, soul, and classical music influences, Third World has changed the face of reggae.
The legendary country singer-songwriter and actor continues to fuse multiple genres in his music with 3 Pears, his first album in five years. Released last month, the record is full of surprises, jumping from Motown and soul to light pop and no-frills rock and roll. 
The Divine Fits are an indie rock group comprised of Spoon’s Britt Daniel, Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs, and New Bomb Turks’ Sam Brown. A few years ago, Daniel attended a Handsome Furs concert; he and Boeckner have remained friends ever since. 
Debo Band is an eleven member group from Boston that has a sound deeply influenced by the traditional music played in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the late 60’s and early 70’s. This groovy harmony, referred to as Addis swing, came about in the cultural freedom of that period before a military coupe put an end to the era. 
It has been six years since Beth Orton released an album. In 1993, Orton had a chance meeting with Grammy winning producer William Orbit. 
The David Wax Museum fuses traditional Mexican and American folk music into what the band refers to as “Mexo-Americana,” a style that is lively and unique. Museum’s breakthrough came during a performance at the 2010 Newport Folk Festival after which they were dubbed the breakout act of the festival. 
Singer-songwriter Iris DeMent was born the youngest child of a large, Pentecostal family in rural Arkansas. She later moved to southern California and grew up listening to traditional country and gospel music that largely influenced her folk-country sound. 
San Antonio-based group Hacienda is a family band, comprised of brothers Abraham, Jaime, and Rene Villanueva and their cousin Dante Schwebel. The Tex-Mex rockers had just started the band and recorded their first demo when they had an encounter that would change the course of their musical career. 
Following the success of their last record, the 2010 Grammy nominated album, Infinite Arms, alternative country rockers Band of Horses released their fourth studio album, Mirage Rock, on September 18. The record was produced by famed English musician/engineer/producer Glyn Johns, 
Sidi Touré is a Songhai blues singer/songwriter who hails from northern Mali. Although Touré had a privileged upbringing growing up in a royal family in Mali, he still knows a thing or two about the blues that has influenced his music. 
Yale dropout and prolific indie songwriter Dave Longstreth is back with a new CD, Swing Lo Magellan, released July 10.
Dirty Projectors had a breakthrough in 2009 with the album Bitte Orca, and released a much-anticpated new album in July on Domino Records. 
We travel to Cuba today with the first of four shows about the music scene in Havana as part of World Cafe's Sense of Place Havana. 
Iconic folk-rock songstress Melissa Etheridge grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas. Etheridge has been making music since she first picked up a guitar at eight years-old and played in country groups throughout her teens in her home state of Kansas. Winner of two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female and an Academy Award for her song “I Need to Wake Up” from the documentary An Inconvenient Truth. 
Sometimes known as the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Antibalas is exactly that: a large group of talented musicians playing rhythmic Afrobeat in perfect synchronous harmony. The New York-based band has come a long way from its Harlem roots but has never forgotten them. 
Influential singer/songwriter Paul Simon’s 1986 Grammy award-winning album Graceland is one of the few records from that decade that made history. 
Philadelphia's own Cheers Elephant is a folk-rock four-piece. Dubbing themselves as the dudes with the best indie rock haircuts, Derek Krzywicki (guitar, lead vocals), Travelin' Mat (bass, vocals), Jordan del Rosario (lead guitar, vocals), and Roberto Kingston (percussion) know how to best blend playful humor, pure rocking energy, and some really great three-part harmonies. Since coming together in 2007, they've toured across the US, sharing the stage with the likes of Chubby Checker, The Go! Team, and DMC. Cheers Elephant has a thing for British pop and good ole American rock 'n' roll , which comes through in their '60s-flavored psychedelia, especially on stage. The chemistry between these four friends and bandmates is almost palpable, and they always draw the audience into their rollicking fun with singalongs and plenty of special effects.
Profile: Bass Player for Guns N' Roses and the legendary Replacements, Tommy Stinson's latest album is called "One Man Mutiny." He'll be here for an XPN Free At Noon on Friday, March 9!
From Monteal, the band Islands are on tour in support of their new album A Sleep & A Forgetting. They play two shows at the First Unitarian Church here in Philly on Friday, February 24 and will be here that day for an XPN Free At Noon show.
Boundary-pushing blues rocker Joe Louis Walker has done it again. Walker has 50 years of music and more than 20 albums under his belt, but he continues to churn out powerful, gritty, heavy blues rock. Walker's musical influences course through his songs. He grew up listening to blues greats, including T-Bone Walker, B.B. King and Pete Johnson. At age 8, Joe Louis Walker picked up his first guitar and began to imitate their work. By sixteen, Walker was the house guitarist of San Francisco's The Matrix and was opening shows for the next generation of blues rock heroes-- Jimi Hendrix, Thelonious Monk and Lightnin' Hopkins, to name a few. Joe Louis Walker manages to channel the sound of each of his heroes, yet maintain a distinct sound.
One of the first Shaking Through artists and current XPN Artist To Watch, Sharon Van Etten has a new album called Tramp. She's in town to play a sold out show on Friday at Johhny Brenda's, and will be here for an XPN Free At Noon, this Friday, February 10, 2012!
For over ten years, Pete Donnelly has made pop music in Philadelphia. He's plays in several bands, including The Figgs and NRBQ, and has produced and played for acts such as G. Love and Special Sauce and Amos Lee. Now, after 10 years as a critical figure in the Philadelphia music scene, he's released a solo album.
Dr. Dog's new album Be The Void will be out February 7, and the band plays two nights at the Electric Factory on March 24-25. They'll be here for an XPN Free At Noon Friday, January 27!
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