Charlie Mars - Listen To The Darkside

Mississippi born, Charlie Mars, released three independent albums before finally catching a break with the 2004 release of his self-titled album on V2 records. Since that release, he has toured relentlessly. He made the album on his own, borrowing the money to pay for it and the CD is pretty much what was recorded with very minimal post production mixing.

Mars has good mix of southern rock with some more friendly pop sound. He polished his songwriting skills by majoring in English at college in Dallas and concentrating on the romantic poets.

Listen to the Darkside, is a solid Mars tune off his 2009 release, Like a Bird, Like a Plane. Interesting note: Mary Louise Parker stars in his video.

Kings of Leon - Use Somebody

Kings of Leon is a family affair, consisting of brothers Anthony "Caleb" Followill, Ivan "Nathan" Followill, and Michael "Jared" Followill, with their cousin Cameron "Matthew" Followill. Each member of the family group is known by their second name as opposed to their first name.

The brothers spent their childhood traveling the south while their father, a preacher, preached at churches and tent revivals. They were essentially home schooled until 1997 when their parents divorced and they moved to Nashville. Here, they honed their songwriting skills and the two older brothers, Caleb and Nathan signed on with RCA Records, but the label wanted them to have a band.

In an interview, Caleb admitted to "kidnapping" their cousin Matthew from his hometown in Mississippi in order for him to join the band. They told his mother that he was just staying for a week, but they just never let him return home. Drummer Nathan added, "When we signed the deal with RCA, it was just me and Caleb. The label told us they were going to put a band together, but we said, 'We're going to buy our little brother a bass, he's a freshman in high school. Caleb will teach himself the guitar. Our cousin Matthew played guitar when he was 10 and I'll play drums.' The record label agreed,". Jared was just 16 when they released their first album, and EP titled Holy Roller Novocaine.

From there, they're fan base grew and since 2003, they have released four albums. Use Somebody, is off their fourth full release, Only by the Night.

Useless trivia: They named themselves Kings of Leon in honor of Nathan, Caleb, and Jared's father and grandfather, who were both named Leon.

JJ Grey & MoFro - Orange Blossoms

JJ Grey and Mofro rock with some raw Southern fried blues. Orange Blossom is the title track of the album of the same name. The thing I like most about the track is the unpolished sound. When I hear it, I have visions of cruising on a dirt back road to a bonfire party by the lake. Ok, maybe it's just me.