Dave Matthews Band
"Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King" (RCA)
From the bluesy sax solo that opens the album, to the inspired songs and performances throughout, it's clear that this one's for LeRoi. "Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King," the Dave Matthews Band's first album since 2005, shows a number of inspirations: producer Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance), the band's maturation and a focus on creating a studio project on a level with the band's potency as one of the most popular live acts in rock history. But it's hard to deny the impact of the loss of founding member LeRoi Moore, who last summer died of complications from injuries suffered in an all-terrain-vehicle accident after work on the album had begun. "Everything was really hard after Roi's death," Matthews says. "But when we were all spending time together and listened to what he had already played, we really had time to think about him and be grateful for the time we had with him."

Dave Matthews Band Tour Info
Dave Matthews Band Groogrux Q&A
Dave Matthews Band Chart History

Best of the Rest Out June 2
311, "Uplifter" (Volcano/Jive) /// Tour Dates
Cavo, "Bright Nights, Dark Days" (Reprise)
Cledus T. Judd, "Polyrically Incorrect" (E1 Music)
Crosby, Stills, & Nash, "Demos" (Rhino Records)
D-Block, "D-Block" (Koch Records)
Drop Dead Gorgeous, "Hot N' Heavy" (Geffen/Suretone) /// Tour Dates
Eels, "Hombre Lobo" (Vagrant)
Ginuwine, "A Man's Thoughts" (Notifi/Asylum/Warner) /// Tour Dates
Iggy Pop, "Preliminaires" (Astralwerks)
Jeff Buckley, "Grace Around the World" CD/DVD (Columbia/Legacy)
Melissa McClelland, "Victoria Day" (Six Shooter) /// Tour Dates
Mitchel Musso, "Mitchel Musso" (Walt Disney) /// Tour Dates
Paolo Nutini, "Sunny Side Up" (Atlantic) /// Tour Dates
Rancid, "Let the Dominoes Fall" (Hellcat/Epitaph)
Regina Spektor, "Far" (Sire) /// Tour Dates
Ryan Bingham, "Roadhouse Sun" (Lost Highway)
Ryan Star, "11:59" (Mark Burnett/Atlantic) /// Tour Dates
Spinnerette, "Spinnerette" (Anthem)
The Sounds, "Crossing the Rubicon" (Original Signal) /// Tour Dates
Tiga, "Ciao!" (Last Gang) /// Tour Dates
Vanessa Williams, "The Real Thing" (Concord) /// Tour Dates
Marshall Crenshaw, "Jaggedland" (Savoy) /// Tour Dates
Los Amigos Invisibles, "Comercial" (Nacional Records) /// Tour Dates

Mos Def
"The Ecstatic" (Downtown Records)
A decade after the release of his solo debut, "Black on Both Sides," Brooklyn-born MC Mos Def proves he hasn't lost a beat. For "The Ecstatic," he looked to producers Kanye West, Madlib and Def Poet's Al Be Back. Tracks include the uptempo "Quiet Dog," on which Mos instructs listeners to "simmer down, simmer down, simmer down"; "Supermagic," which finds him rhyming, "Brooklyn we keep them open" over an Indian-like beat and guitar riffs; the epic-sounding "Life in Marvelous Times"; and "Twiling Speedball," on which he raps, "Life is a game, I heard a homie say/But I came to win so I'm not going to play."

Mos Def Tour Info
Mos Def Chart History

Best of the Rest Out June 9
Anti-Flag, "The People or the Gun" (SideOneDummy) /// Tour Dates
Chickenfoot, "Chickenfoot" (Chickenfoot) /// Tour Dates
Dirty Projectors, "Bitte Orca" (Domino) /// Tour Dates
Joan of Arc, "Flowers" (Polyvinyl) /// Tour Dates
John Anderson, "Bigger Hands" (Country Crossing/Stroudavarious) /// Tour Dates
Kasabian, "The West Rider Pauper (Lunatic Asylum" RCA) /// Tour Dates
Maino, "If Tomorrow Comes" (Hustle Hard/Atlantic) /// Tour Dates
Marie Digby, "Breathing Underwater" (Hollywood Records) /// Tour Dates
Miike Snow, "Miike Snow" (Downtown) /// Tour Dates
Placebo, "Battle for the Sun" (Vagrant) /// Tour Dates
Quincy Jones, "Quincy Jones Explores the Music of Henry Mancini" (Universal Music Group/Concord) /// Tour Dates
Rhett Miller, "Rhett Miller" (Shout Factory) /// Tour Dates
Sonic Youth, "The Eternal" (Matador) /// Tour Dates
Will Dailey, "Torrent" (CBS Records) /// Tour Dates
Deerhunter, "Rainwater Cassette Exchange" (Kranky) /// Tour Dates
The Low Anthem, "Oh My God, Charlie Darwin" (Nonesuch) /// Tour Dates

Jonas Brothers
"Lines, Vines and Trying Times" (Hollywood)
Fresh off their Grammy Award win for best new artist, the Jonas Brothers will release their third studio album on Hollywood-and get back to their roots. "They respect different kinds of musicians, and the different kinds of music they grew up with," Hollywood Records VP of A&R Jon Lind says. To that end, they enlisted such Nashville stalwarts as steel pedal guitar specialist Bruce Bouto and Stuart Duncan, who played fiddle on Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' "Raising Sand, " and harmonica player Frédéric Yonnet, best-known for his collaborations with Prince. But don't think the band has gone country just yet; the first single, "Paranoid,"is pure Europop. "A significant number of people who are not Jonas Brothers experts are going to hear it and say, 'Who the hell is that?' " Lind says.

Jonas Brothers Tour Info
Jonas Brothers Chart History

Holly Williams
"Here With Me" (Mercury Nashville)

The granddaughter of Hank Williams and daughter of Hank Williams Jr., Holly Williams wrote eight of 11 tracks on her Mercury debut, although she didn't pen the first single, "Keep the Change." The song "Three Days in Bed," about a tryst with a stranger, was "inspired by truth and fantasy." While Williams follows her own musical path, she never forgets her family. "Without Jesus Here With Me," which name-checks her grandfather, was inspired by a March 2006 auto accident in which she and sister Hilary almost lost their lives. The second single, "Mama," deals with her parents' divorce.

Holly Williams Tour Info
Holly Williams Chart History

Best of the Rest Out June 16
Angel Taylor, "Love Travels" (Aware/Colombia) /// Tour Dates
Ashley Tisdale, "Guilty Pleasure" (Warner) /// Tour Dates
Incubus, "Monuments and Melodies" (Epic) /// Tour Dates
Major Lazer, "Guns Don't Kill People . . . Lasers Do" (Downtown) /// Tour Dates
Tiny Masters of Today, "Skeletons" (Mute) /// Tour Dates
Twista, "Category F5" (EMI) /// Tour Dates
The Builders & the Butchers, "Salvation Is a Deep, Dark Well" (Gigantic Music) /// Tour Dates

Lil Wayne
"The Rebirth" (Young Money/Cash Money/Universal)
Lil Wayne is always reinventing himself. That's why it comes as no surprise that the New Orleans-born rapper, who taught himself how to play guitar months ago, will release his first rock album this summer. The self-proclaimed best rapper alive recruited Miami producers Infamous and Drew Correa, Cool & Dre, Develop and Drew Mone. "There were rumors Wayne was working on a rock album, but I assumed it was just 808 drums with guitars on it," says Infamous, who along with his partner worked on the first single, "Prom Queen." "Drew started to add organs, and Wayne said no. That's when I realized it was actually going to be a real rock album."

Lil Wayne Tour Info
Lil Wayne Chart History

Dinosaur Jr.
"Farm" (Jagjaguwar)
Dinosaur Jr. principals J. Mascis, Lou Barlow and Emmett "Patrick" Murphy are known for having communication issues, but in 2007 the alt-rock pioneers reunited and signed with Fat Possum to release "Beyond," the band's first album with the original lineup since 1988's "Bug." The set debuted at No. 69 on the Billboard 200 and sold 51,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The band's new 12-track set, recorded at vocalist/guitarist Mascis' home studio in Amherst, Mass., maintains its classic rock sensibilities and masterfully loud hardcore sound.

Dinosaur Jr. Tour Info
Dinosaur Jr. Chart History

Paulina Rubio
"Gran City Pop" (Universal Music Latino)

After two consecutive No. 1 debuts on Billboard's Top Latin Albums chart, Mexican "golden girl" Paulina Rubio is hoping to repeat the feat with "Gran City Pop." Already No. 1 on iTunes' Latino chart based on pre-orders alone, the album features 14 tracks penned by some of Latin music's top writers, including Mario Domm (the singer for the Mexican pop trio Camila), who wrote the first single, "Causa y Efecto." The top-selling Latin female artist after Shakira, Rubio has an English-language album (2002's "Border Girl") and a new fragrance to her name, which will expand interest in her release beyond her Latin base. The singer is also a top seller in such countries as Mexico and Spain, which translates to a heavy international push from Universal.

Alicia Villarreal
"La Jefa" (Fonovisa)
The Latin Grammy Award winner is back with her first album in three years, produced by her husband and cumbia artist Cruz Martínez. Highlights include the uptempo, raucous "Si Crees Que Pienso" and the first single, "Caso Perdido," by the hitmaking pop songwriters Claudia Brant and Noel Schajris; it's an accordion-driven norteño in Villarreal's signature purr. Villarreal wrote five of the songs, with others written by Armando Manzanero (the ballad "Soy Lo Peor") and Jose Alfredo Jimenez ("Cuando Nadie Te Quiera").

Alicia Villarreal Tour Info
Alicia Villarreal Chart History

Best of the Rest Out June 23
Au Revoir Simone, "Au Revoir Simone LP" (TVT Records) /// Tour Dates
Dead Prez, "Pulse of the People" (Invasion Music Group/Boss Up/The Orchard) /// Tour Dates
Deastro, "Moondagger" (Ghostly International) /// Tour Dates
Dream Theater, "Black Clouds & Silver Linings" (Roadrunner) /// Tour Dates
Foreign Born, "Person to Person" (Secretly Canadian) /// Tour Dates
The Lemonheads, "Varshons" (The End) /// Tour Dates
Sunset Rubdown, "Dragonslayer" (Jagjaguwar) /// Tour Dates
Third Eye Blind, "Ursa Major" (Sony) /// Tour Dates
Tom Brosseau, "Posthumous Success" (FatCat) /// Tour Dates
Tortoise, "Beacons of Ancestorship" (Thrill Jockey) /// Tour Dates
We Were Promised Jetpacks, "These Four Walls" (FatCat) /// Tour Dates
Pete Yorn, "Back and Fourth" (Columbia) /// Tour Dates
Zs, "Magic of the Modern White" (The Social Registry) /// Tour Dates

Levon Helm
"Electric Dirt" (Dirt Farmer/Vanguard)
After nabbing a Grammy Award for his rustic album "Dirt Farmer," legendary drummer/vocalist Levon Helm returns with "Electric Dirt." As with "Dirt Farmer," Helm recorded the 11-song set at the Barn, his studio in Woodstock, N.Y., and reteamed with multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell for production duties. "Dirt Farmer" (which sold 129,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan) saw Helm emerge after a 25-year absence from solo work, exploring the rich, traditional roots of classic Americana and folk music. "Electric Dirt" continues in that tradition but taps into other parts of the American musical canon.

Levon Helm Tour Info
Levon Helm Chart History

Wilco
"Wilco (The Album)" (Nonesuch)
On Wilco's almost-but-not-quite self-titled album, the band revisits the unpredictable leanings of its more experimental side while delivering several songs that hark back to its rootsy "Summerteeth" era. The nearly six-minute "Bull Black Nova," which is built on a pulsating rhythm and layered with clattering piano and unhinged, interlocking guitar workouts, best exemplifies producer Jim Scott's approach of taking "a little bit more leeway in terms of sculpting the sound and using the studio as another instrument," as frontman Jeff Tweedy explains. But fans of Wilco's more straightforward side will revel in "You and I," a gorgeous duet between Tweedy and Feist about the simple pleasures of love. Also in this vein are the hushed, largely acoustic "Solitaire" and the stately, harmony-rich "Country Disappeared." Rounding out the album is "You Never Know," a flashback to the band's ebullient pop/rock of 1999, while "Sonny Feeling" is a slide-guitar-laden jam.


Wilco Tour Info
Wilco Chart History

Moby
"Wait for Me" (Mute)
Moby's 2008 album "Last Night" was a decidedly dance-oriented party album, influenced by the artist's frequent DJ work. But Moby says his ninth studio album, "Wait for Me," is "diametrically opposed to that. If you were having a party and someone put this on, I imagine people would either leave or lie down." The quieter, more orchestral album was recorded in Moby's New York apartment on analog equipment, some of it purchased broken on eBay, with several little-known guest vocalists. Moby also designed the album artwork himself with a Sharpie on white paper.

Moby Tour Info
Moby Chart History

Bebe
Title TBA (EMI Televisa)
The Spanish singer/songwriter Bebe is back with her first studio album since the 2004 alt-pop release "Pafuera Telarañas" and her subsequent Latin Grammy Award win for best new artist. On her new set, Bebe reteams with producer Carlos Jean on such tracks as "Me Fui," a raw confrontation set to a haunting acoustic guitar; "La Bicha," percussive, defiant and talk-sung that nearly becomes a rap accompanied by woodwind; "Pa Mi Casa," a folky uptempo blend of horn, bolero-type vocals and a yowling chorus; and the opener "No Mas Llorar," which verges on flamenco chill-out.

Bebe Tour Info
Bebe Chart History

Best of the Rest Out June 30
Cage, "Depart From Me" (Definitive Jux) /// Tour Dates
Rob Thomas, "Cradlesong" (Atlantic) /// Tour Dates /// Listen To "Her Diamonds"
Brad Paisley, "American Saturday Night" (Arista) /// Tour Dates
Leslie Mendelson, "Swan Feathers" (Rykodisc) /// Tour Dates
Meese, "Broadcast" (Atlantic) /// Tour Dates