As one of rock's most popular acts, Counting Crows remained at the top of their game for over a decade. Although they emerged as an alternative rock band, Counting Crows' sound, a hybrid of classic rock and roll, country and blue-eyed soul, appealed to alternative and classic rock fans alike.<./p>

Counting Crows broke onto the scene in 1993 with their debut, August and Everything After. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, the album fused the band's classic rock sound with lead singer/songwriter Adam Duritz's wearied voice, and tragically poetic imagery. With the release of the album's standout single, "Mr. Jones," heavy MTV and radio airplay followed for the Crows (the name of the tune, a thinly veiled reference to Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man.") The single was a hit and made the Crows stars overnight.

Counting Crows' next release, 1996's Recovering the Satellites, embodied the sound of 1990's San Francisco. Instead of freewheeling, jam-based instrumentals of earlier California bands, the Crows' Recovering the Satellites implied a lonely, late-night feel for the American west coast.

After five years of exhaustive touring, Counting Crows released the double-disc Across a Wire: Live in New York. Combining concerts recorded for VH1 and MTV, Across a Wire showcased the band performing different versions of their songs in a live concert setting.

Counting Crows' most mature album, This Desert Life, hit shelves in 1999. An album that recalled rock history, the Crows' infused their catalog of songs with instant classics including "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby" and pop rocker "Hangin' Around."

Hard Candy followed in the summer of 2002. The album reinforced the strong storytelling aspect of Duritz's songs, while presenting one of alternative rock's most carefully crafted albums of the young decade.

Born Shelby Lynne Moorer to a bandleader father and a music teacher mother, Lynne was surrounded by music from early on. Growing up in Jackson, Alabama, Lynne occasionally performed on stage with her parents and sister (fellow roots/Americana artist Alison Moorer.)

After a move to Nashville in the 1980's, Lynne recorded a set of demo songs that caught the ear of producers at TNN Television. The demos landed Lynne on the network's popular Nashville Now series. Country star George Jones caught Lynne's appearance, and in 1988 Lynne was invited to cut a song with Jones. "If I Could Bottle This Up" was the result, and the song quickly broke into the country Top 50.

On the strength of the single, Lynne was offered her first record deal. Lynne's first three albums found her experimenting with the different sounds of country music- traditional country, country rock, and slicker sounding country pop.

As a result of Lynne's Soft Talk album from 1991, the Country Music Association awarded Lynne the Horizon Award, given to the most promising up-and-coming talent. Never one to rest on her stylistic laurels, used this momentum to release Lynne's Temptation, Lynne's most adventurous album yet. Temptation featured the songwriter in front of a Bob Wills style Western swing orchestra, belting out classics in front of a jazz big band. Restless followed in 1995, and the video for its single, "Slow Me Down," was voted Country Music Television's Independent Video of the Year.

After the release of Temptation, Lynne moved to California and teamed with producer Bill Bottrell (Sheryl Crow, Tom Petty) for her much-anticipated next release. Lynne's return to recording came with the release of the declarative I Am Shelby Lynne in 2000. Not only was the album a return to the fore for Lynne, but it also garnered critical praise and earned Lynne (the somewhat ironic) Best New Artist Grammy in 2001. Love, Shelby followed in 2001, and Lynne's adventurous tear through American music, Identity Crisis, came in 2003.