Bill Callahan

Formerly known as Smog, Americana's 'laughing boy' Callahan sings from his latest album 'Dream River'. His peculiarly male songs of human frailty, hope, disgust, love and lust, with dashes of mordant wit, are consistently great – but he's most notable for that voice: a deep grey timbre which sounds like a dredge working a frozen river for gravel at dawn.