What better time of the year is there for a list like this? After all, discovering each one of these up-and-coming standouts was like finding a Christmas-morning surprise under the tree.

Matt Steckler’s Dead Count Bounce is a band that within the parameters of traditional jazz seeks new musical directions

Diana Krall … Harry Connick Jr. … Josh Groban … Norah Jones … Michael Bublé. What to make of young, attractive musicians who seem rooted in the past?

Now here’s a collaboration too good to be true: Two legendary guitarists from two legendary British bands of the early 1960s have teamed up and recorded a Christmas album!

There is a shambling, plain-spoken beauty to this track as Cary Morin, a Crow Indian from North Dakota, sings about dancing his way toward salvation.