It’s been a long and great concert season here in the Mid-Atlantic, and one that has brought up thoughts about the current state of music. The industry has seen more changes in the last few years than in the rest of its history. Downloadable songs, both legal and illegal, are filling the ubiquitous iPod, and it’s anyone’s guess how much longer the “record store” as we know it will last.

The huge cost of touring has made it very difficult for up and coming bands, and has allowed the still popular dinosaurs to lift a few hundred bucks per ticket from their baby boomer fans.

Worst of all, as radio grows more and more format oriented (as if that were possible), it is tougher and tougher for some new and fantastic artists to get heard. But this is jumping ahead. Let’s get back to that concert season for a second. Say what you will about Baltimore (or more likely, say nothing), but its location may make it one of the best music cities in the country, provided you don’t mind a little travel. In the last few months, we saw Paul McCartney in Philadelphia, The Rolling Stones in Washington, DC and Jethro Tull in New York at Carnegie Hall! All were easy trips and well worth it. And amazingly, all three of these way-past-middle-age acts were great. McCartney and The Stones are both coming off excellent new albums, and were quite generous in their selection of tons of classics – both expected and a few cool surprises. And even though Ian Anderson’s voice made it sound as if he had laryngitis for a fortnight straight, Jethro Tull was quite impressive as well. The band was top notch, Ian’s flute playing was surprisingly smoking hot, and the addition of the mysteriously beautiful violinist whose name currently escapes me made for an evening fit for one of the world’s greatest venues. This string of shows wrapped up with the glorious return of The Stones to our beloved Baltimore (their first visit since 1969!!) in their last gig before the Super Bowl, ummm…. I mean the Big Game, for what is being called the best show of the current tour.

On the other hand, during the same time period, we saw shows in much smaller venues by lesser known artists such as Guster, Jill Sobule and Ben Kweller. And as cool as it was seeing arguably some of the greatest acts in the history of rock music, it was actually much more fun to see extremely talented young artists with only a few albums to their name playing a small venue where you could see, feel and smell every nuance of the music and the crowd. That’s what rock and roll is really about.

Unfortunately, many of my fellow baby boomers seem to be stuck in a musical rut. There is so much great material from our musical youth that we don’t really have the need or compulsion to explore what’s out there now. But anyone who thinks that no great music has been made since The Clash released “London Calling” in 1979 is dead wrong. Unfortunately, the airwaves and TV are loaded with such shit today that it takes a keen ear, lots of desire, and a network of like minded friends to really find the worthwhile stuff. With that in mind, I would like to present some artists from the last decade or so who are producing excellent music, yet have stayed a bit under the radar – some more than others. So in no particular order, here it goes!

Fountains Of Wayne

They had sort of a breakthrough hit with “Stacy’s Mom,” but there is so much more to this quirky pop-rock band from New Jersey. Their most recent album, Welcome Interstate Managers, is a good place to start as it traverses through hilarious power pop – (the opening lyric of the album will have you cracking up right from the start), beautiful folky stuff, Oasis like rock and roll, and tunes so catchy you may want to sue them for not being able to get the CD out of your player and the melodies out of your head. Next, work backwards to Utopia Parkway and then the debut Fountains Of Wayne. Sure – there are lots of songs about cars, girls, and New Jersey, but isn’t that what great rock music is all about?

Guster

No bass, no drums – just two acoustic guitars, an incredible conga player and some of the sweetest harmonies around, combined with crafty introspective songwriting – that’s Guster. They met at Tufts University and put out Parachute – a somewhat crude first effort that showed incredible promise. What followed were three of the best albums to come out in years, coupled with a great live show that helped them build a huge college following on the East Coast.

Start with the classic third CD Lost And Gone Forever. If you like the poppier side of Guster, move on to the fourth album Keep It Together (my personal favorite) where they actually add bass and drums on many tracks and still manage to throw in a few slow burners of the highest magnitude (including the delicious “Come Downstairs And Say Hello”). If the more introspective side appeals to you, drop back to the favorite of the hard core fans, Goldfly. Either way you won’t be disappointed and will eventually wind up with all four albums anyway. And whatever you do – don’t miss them when they come to your town.

Ben Kweller

Okay – is it too clichéd to say that Ben Kweller is a “young kid bursting with talent?” But he’s not the new Dylan (and neither is the entirely overrated Bright Eyes!) Being courted by major labels since he was fifteen years old and had a band called Radish, for his first solo album, Sha Sha, Ben went with the creative control only an indie could give him, and the results are nothing short of spectacular. Sha Sha is the kind of CD that will stick a big grin on your face and get buried into your soul at the same time. Using Beatlesque harmonies, incredible song writing, and a refusal to take himself too seriously, Ben will surprise you and pull you closer with each listen. And while the follow up, On My Way, didn’t break much new ground, you’ll want to get that too, because listening to Ben Kweller is like an addiction.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to check out the other Bens – the much more well known Ben Folds and Australia’s best kept secret Ben Lee.

Jill Sobule

It’s unfortunate that Jill is perhaps best known for her bisexual almost-hit “I Kissed A Girl,” because as great as that song is, she is anything but a novelty act. With no airplay, multiple label droppings, and an almost permanent opening act status, Jill continues to improve with every album; 2005’s Underdog Victorious being perhaps her finest. Her songwriting goes from incredibly touching to outright hilarious, her acoustic guitar playing is gorgeous, and her little girl voice incredibly expressive. Underdog begins with the incredibly confessive song “Freshman” (a true tale about chasing your dreams and what you have to settle for to do it) to tripping on mushrooms (the incredibly catchy “Cinnamon Park”- done to the riff from Chicago’s Saturday In The Park), prostitution in Israel (“Tel Aviv”) all the way to a bonus track that brings back her earlier lesbian themes. But she’s no Indigo Girl – Jill songs about male/female relationships are as good as they get. Check her out – you won’t be sorry.

Keane

Like Coldplay but don’t know where to go next? Check out Keane - another piano based band from the UK. But instead of trying to be the next U2, Keane just puts out gorgeous melodies that are fun to listen to on their debut Hopes And Fears. Plus, the track “She Has No Time” is incredibly beautiful and heartbreaking – if you like that kind of stuff!!

Kasey Chambers

What is a country singer doing on this list, let alone one from Australia? Well, like her fellow comrades in intelligent country songwriting, Mary-Chapin Carpenter and Lucinda Williams, Kasey should be heard by a wider audience; in her case both through genre and geography. On my iPod I have five versions of her song “The Captain,” and whenever it comes up on shuffle, people immediately ask “Who is that?”

Kasey’s voice is hard to describe, but she certainly isn’t Patsy Cline. She has a way of wrapping her voice around intelligent lyrics so expressively yet with a sound so innocent – even when the subject matter is far from that. Stylistically she is all over the place, but it all works. If you’ve never experienced fine country music (it’s not an oxymoron) and want to hear some that is fresh and exciting, check out Kasey. Her first album, The Captain, would be the obvious place to start. And when you get hooked (which you will) and run out of CDs to buy (she has three full length albums) it will be well worth your while to hunt down her EP of mostly well chosen live covers, On The Road With Kasey Chambers. Or – you can beg me and I just may burn it for you.

Ryan Adams

The great thing about Ryan Adams is also the biggest problem – he is so darn prolific that just when you start getting into something he comes out with something new, and in a totally different style. That’s why Demolition may be a good place to start. It’s an album of B-sides and demos that demonstrates many of his styles all in one easy to digest disc – and the songs are anything but throwaways. Actually, it may be his songwriting more than his low key delivery and ability to change styles at the drop of a hat that makes him so appealing. Check out the radio ready Gold, the aptly named Rock N Roll or the sprawling Grateful Dead influenced Cold Roses, and you’ll see what all the fuss is about. But whatever you do, don’t call him Brian!!

Okay – so you remember the late sixties and early seventies, when “concept albums” ruled the world? One can argue all day about what the first true concept album was (Little Deuce Coupe by The Beach Boys? P.F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things? The Who’s Tommy? Freak Out by The Mothers Of Invention? Who the hell knows?) But one thing is for sure – the genre wore itself out and became almost parody by the time obnoxious arena rock bands got a hold of it in the 80s (Paradise Theater by Styx anyone?) - but there is still a small place for intelligently crafted albums that are woven around a theme. Here are two you may want to check out.

Webb Brothers

Yes – their pedigree as the sons of Jimmy Webb, one of the finest songwriters of all time, may make them destined for greatness, but you won’t find anything like “Wichita Lineman” or “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” on their creepy masterpiece Maroon. A tale of pick-up bars, drug overdoses, and the seedy nightlife in underside of Chicago may not sound too uplifting, but The Webb Brothers pull it off in a way that begs repeated listening. This is one of my favorite albums of the last ten years – one that gets its hooks in you and just won’t let go.

The Honeydogs

It’s a bit difficult to understand just exactly what is going on during 10,000 Years. Post apocalyptic world? Check. Cloning? Check. A hero born to save the planet? Check. But it doesn’t play out like a favorite of the Star Trek crowd – it’s a CD of catchy melodies, recurring melodic themes, and lyrics just flaky enough to catch your ear. Good stuff from a band that deserves more recognition.

Oh…..and one more thing.

Because they have been making music since the early ‘70s, the crazy musical chameleons known as Sparks don’t really fit into this piece. But this band unleashed such a masterpiece in 2002 that its non-inclusion would cause severe pangs of guilt. Blazing a musical trail that has somehow predicted or predated power-pop, glam, operatic rock, techno, disco, and more, Sparks had been uneventfully cruising along with a never ending string of mediocre albums since their classic period of 1973 to 1980 or so.

But seemingly out of nowhere, the Mael Brothers (mysteriously loony and shy Ron as composer / pianist / musical arranger and slightly androgynous Russ as the gifted tenor frontman) came out with an album that completely defies description. Not rock, not Broadway, not quite performance art – it is simply an extension of the bottled up genius of Sparks, and Lil’ Beethoven remains an incredible music listening experience. It is without a doubt one of the most daringly creative yet incredibly catchy albums of the last ten years.

But with the daring and creativity come a warning. You will most likely hate it upon the first listen, and there is a good chance that many will never warm up to it enough to discover its incredible charms. Many people will feel it was the biggest waste of fifteen bucks in their lives (Bright Eyes and the incredibly overrated Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart excepted). But for those who “get it” – there is only one way to describe Lil’ Beethoven – pure genius.

So just remember folks – there HAS been a ton of good music released since the Golden Era of rock and roll. It just takes a little work to find it.