World Cafe

Zeus' music sounds as if it's being beamed straight out of the '70s, but a shared interest in making music that recalls The Band isn't what brought the Canadian group together. Most of Zeus' members were brought into Jason Collett's backing band, and from there decided to play together outside of their work with Collett. Members Rob Drake, Carlin Nicholson, Mike O'Brien and Neil Quin released their EP Sounds Like Zeus in 2009, and followed it with 2010's Say Us.

We've heard from Alt. Latino co-host Felix Contreras in the past, but here we'll hear from the show's other half, Jasmine Garsd. Garsd was raised in Buenos Aires and connected with the Argentine rock scene in her teens. She moved to the U.S. after high school, an experience which exposed her to American music; she now co-hosts Alt.Latino, a weekly show on NPR Music which explores music from all over the Western hemisphere.

Since beginning his "open-source" musical project in the 1990s, Lorin Ashton and his Bassnectar alias have become nearly superhuman. Bassnectar is associated with a community of devoted Bass Heads, several non-profit and charity organizations and shows of such epic proportions, they're called Bass Centers. Ashton describes his music as "the motion of [his] cells bouncing back at the world," and tens of thousands of people connect with it as a deeply human pursuit, as well. Last year, he sold out a New Year's Eve show attended by 10,000 fans.

Loudon Wainwright III has the makings of a great legacy many times over. His children — including Rufus and Martha — are successful musicians in their own right, and Wainwright's body of work has obviously influenced them.