Music

The Budapest String Quartet has always been my standard-bearer for chamber music. I grew up listening to their recordings, and especially admired not only their gorgeous sound, but also the uncanny interaction among all four players, even when there were changes in personnel. They had a way of playing as if they were speaking to each other, expressing deep and sometimes complicated feelings.

Rosanne Cash started out working with her father, the late Johnny Cash, then released her own self-titled debut in 1978. She's since made 11 more records and topped various Billboard charts with 11 singles. Refusing to be held by genre limitations, Cash is known variously as a rock, pop, folk and country performer.

The Minneapolis band Night Moves released its debut album, Colored Emotions, for free online in 2011, setting off a wave of buzz. Its Americana-tinged single "Headlights" became a staple on The Current's airwaves, and the group played the station's seventh birthday party at First Avenue in January of this year.

Rapper Lupe Fiasco is famous for his edgy rhymes and radical politics. For the Tell Me More series "In Your Ear," Fiasco shares some of the songs that motivate him. That includes Johnny Cash's "Man In Black" that inspired his latest album cover.

Jason Lytle is the man behind the Modesto, Calif., band Grandaddy. The band released its debut in 1997, but it was Grandaddy's second album — The Sophtware Slump — that broke through with critics and fans. Even David Bowie called himself a fan when he approached the band members after seeing them play.

Every member of Dirty Three has a highly respectable career outside of the band: Violinist Warren Ellis works closely with Nick Cave, drummer Jim White is a sought-after collaborator with an instantly recognizable sound, and guitarist Mick Turner has released a string of gorgeous instrumental solo albums when he's not working as a visual artis