Loud Guitars and Big Suspicions

Singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow has always had music in her life, starting with her childhood in Kennett, Missouri. Her parents did big band work - her dad, a lawyer, played trumpet; her mom sang and played piano. After earning a degree in voice and piano from the University of Missouri, Sheryl taught elementary school in the St. Louis area and sang in local clubs. But when she got the chance to do a McDonald's jingle, everything changed. She moved to California, became a backup singer for Michael Jackson, then launched a spectacular solo career with albums like Tuesday Night Music Club - which included her smash hit "All I Wanna Do" - The Globe Sessions and Wildflower. The latest recording from this nine-time Grammy winner is 2008's Detours (Interscope/A&M Records).

Vocal powerhouse k.d. lang was raised in a small town in Alberta, Canada, the youngest of four kids who all studied classical piano. She started singing when she was five and took up guitar a few years later. By the time she finished college, interest in the singer was growing, and early albums like 1984's Truly Western Experience (Bumstead) drew more attention. Major-label recordings followed, and a 1987 duet with Roy Orbison on his song "Crying" gave k.d. the first of four Grammy Awards. (The others came by way of her song "Constant Craving" and albums Absolute Torch and Twang and A Wonderful World, with Tony Bennett.) These days, the singer/songwriter/producer/arranger makes her home in Los Angeles. Watershed (Nonesuch) is her most recent album.

Growing up in rural Maine, Heather Masse sang hymns and folk songs around home with her family. Now based in New York, this New England Conservatory of Music alum is a one-third of the Juno Award-winning Canadian trio The Wailin' Jennys. Lock My Heart is her recording with piano legend Dick Hyman. A new album, August Love Song - on which she joins forces with trombone great Roswell Rudd - was recently released on Red House Records.