Music

Get inside some of the new roots sounds this weekend...

Karl Wallinger is best known as the brains behind the Britpop band World Party. A Welsh singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Wallinger displayed an early obsession with all things folk and pop. After experience directing The Rocky Horror Show on stage and working in music publishing, he played keyboards for the Scottish folk-rock band The Waterboys.

Michael Kiwanuka combines roots and soul with such old-school, retro-sounding verve, it's hard to believe he's still a rising star — let alone a 24-year-old. Kiwanuka is of Ugandan descent and grew up in Muswell Hill, London.

Make a list of bands with integrity, still highly respected and still making music after 25 years, and that list will have Cowboy Junkies near the top. More active than ever, the group has released four new studio records in the past two years — an insane achievement. A prolific nature doesn't define greatness, of course, but these past few years have produced some of the best music Cowboy Junkies' members have ever made.

Most people who haven't been living under a rock are aware of the newspaper industry's precipitous decline. And even the least media savvy surface dwellers could guess that this sorry state of affairs has disproportionately impacted arts journalism.