Shannon Lawson

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voices, and although some are fine stylists, standout virtuosity, whether vocal or instrumental, is rare outside the bluegrass subgenre. Even Patsy Cline, with her obvious charisma, bounced around on the fringes of the business for years before anyone figured out what to do with her.

Lawson grew up in Taylorsville, Kentucky, in the heart of the Bluegrass region, and sang for a while with a Louisville bluegrass band called the Galoots. Although he specializes in a pleasantly hell-raising type of country song that's alien to bluegrass, he pays homage to that music in a couple of very funny songs ("Smokin' Grass" is one) and plainly grew up hearing Bill Monroe and his ilk. Lawson's voice has some of Monroe's effortless power, and because of his vocal facility, he was also picked to front an otherwise all-black blues band — something not terribly common among country singers.