Ryan Adams is only 37 and he’s already more accomplished than most people are at retirement. During his 12-year career he has released eight official solo albums and five albums with his former backing band, The Cardinals.   

"It's a great day in America," bellows Craig Ferguson every weeknight five minutes after David Letterman's show fades out. The talk-show host, hyper-Scotsman, stand-up comedian and naturalized American citizen has been credited by many media commentators as being more innovative and substantial than his late-night counterparts, and the ratings have been catching up.   

Lewis Black recently turned 61 and, like many of his generation, was influenced by the social comedy of George Carlin, Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor. It was worth asking if Black felt that stand-up comedy was still evolving or if, like Rock & Roll, it had played itself out and was searching for an identity.   

Umphrey's McGee has developed into one of the heavyweights of the neo-Jam Band scene. They were formed in the late '90s at the University of Notre Dame, quickly moved to their new home base of Chicago and exploded onto the scene in the early with their improvisational wonder workings. Bassist Ryan Stasik describes their sound as "distinctly Umphrey's," which can mean anything from 20-minute improvisational jams to face-melting two-minute guitar solos to succinct, four-minute Pop/Rock gems.  

Chrissie Hynde moved back to Akron to care for her aging parents and quite possibly begin her own retirement. But, like so many times in her career and life, fate intervened. She opened a vegan restaurant, reabsorbed the Midwest atmosphere that defined her upbringing and then, after a six-year gap since the last Pretenders album, songs began to suggest themselves. Finally there was an album’s worth, which yielded the consistently excellent 'Break Up the Concrete.' As is typical for Hynde, nothing about the swinging, stinging, swaying 'Concrete' is typical.  

Alanis Morissette has finally learned to live in the moment. The change, call it her evolution, is evident in the lyrics on her latest, Flavors of Entanglement