Hey, fellow pogoer: had enough of pop song booshwa? Get to know a few worthy musicians who all have one important thing in common: They live in the real world, like the rest of us. (Well, almost all of us.) Some of them make a living with their music and some have day jobs; all deserve your support. Don't look here for glamor queens, divas or artificial creations; these performers are real talents, real voices, the real thing. They have wildly differing styles and guiding stars, but (besides living in the real world) they do share the following qualities:

ˇ Attitude
ˇOriginality
ˇTenacity (having found a vision, sticking to that vision like Krazy Glue, come hell, high water, mass-culture invisibility, or record-label woes)
ˇStyle
ˇA sense of perspective gained through a certain amount of life experience
ˇ Wisdom, expressed through their own artistic lens
ˇ Spirituality, to a greater or lesser degree

In songwriting, clever is good; using the unexpected word or phrase is good; and cynicism can be a useful corrective when used with discretion. But compassion trumps all; in the end, it's the only indispensable ingredient that separates a hack from an artist.

And what can an engaged listener do? Unfortunately, the capacity to ignore almost everything but what's being served up in front of you at the moment seems to be hardwired into human nature, and it has to be actively fought against. With the entertainment industry so consumed with style, branding, formatting and pigeonholing, it's especially important to be proactive. (Can you tell I've read No Logo?) Don't Bees let the industry shove the boy bands, girl bands, Celine, Ricky and their ilk down their throats. Do-Bees show support for their favorite local artists in the most tangible way they can, even if that just means running their mouth. And if you feel so inclined, by all means, create something yourself. Messing with the universe begins at home, folks. Which is something these artists know a bit about.

You might notice that this list tends toward what might be called Americana or alt-country, or at least the eclectic mix favored by the likes of Paste Magazine; whatever, I say. For me, labels (even record labels) aren't so important. One of the things I most appreciate about these kinds of artists is that they inspire me, especially after witnessing a great concert, to attempt some honest creative work myself (which maybe, who knows, inspires others to do likewise in turn. Maybe that was the point all along?). Worse things could happen.

Readers should note that all of these recommendations are unsolicited, and I don't receive compensation for them, although the occasional hello would be nice. (Especially if you're one of the artists and are thinking about playing Austin sometime, or even Ljubljana...)

Neko Case Never has a more arresting sound emerged from a less pretentious performer than this punk-hearted alt-country rocker from Tacoma, Wash.; I don't know from whence her muse comes, but it's an original, full-throated and wondrous thing to behold in action. I've seen her perform live just once, with the added attraction of the delightful Kelly Hogan singing backup, at the Mercury in Austin on August 8, 2003 (the night before Case taped a broadcast of Austin City Limits). Nobody left disappointed. http://www.nekocase.com/

Dave's True Story How literate/funny yet true/touching can you get? If Kirsty MacColl had been born in the body of some guy from New York, she might have been Dave Cantor - although nobody's ever accused Dave of having the voice of an angel. But Kelly Flint was created to sing these modern-day hip café society ballads referencing Trollope, Sartre, the Prado and psychiatry. No other duo on the scene today is doing anything close. Very cool. http://www.davestruestory.com/

Barbara Manning She has many worthwhile albums, but I particularly recommend her 2000 collection Under One Roof: Singles and Oddities (Innerstate Records), one of the most endearing examples of outsider alt-pop you'd ever hope to hear. Manning doesn't always sing on key and she's hopelessly uncommercial, but she's also a great experimenter, the best songwriter nobody outside of a small cult following has ever heard of, and the definition of 'underappreciated' - in short, Ms. Manning is a perfect example of why pages like these are necessary. http:// www.barbaramanning.com/

Little Pink The recordings of this Arlington, VA-based group, as heard on their 2001 debut CD Cul-de-Sac Cowgirl (Adult Swim), define the Americana genre at its best, as pop music for grown-ups -- effortlessly combining romanticism and yearning with a knowing rootedness in the everyday slog. They'd make the list just on the basis of 'Ceiling Rain', which is among the most perfect songs I've ever heard. Vocalist and chief songwriter Mary Battiata, who moonlights as a feature writer for the Washington Post, is far and away the best journalist-musician I know of (if Patti Smith doesn't count). You might expect literate lyrics from her, but Battiata also has an unerring sense of melody and pitch and pours her heart into the vocals. In other words, it's not just a hobby for her, it's reality and it's as necessary as water and love. More, please. http:// www.littlepinktheband.com/

Christy McWilson The former Picketts lead singer exemplifies alt-country's spiritual axis, but her muse is also infused with a love of pure pop structures and kick-it rocking out. McWilson's songs are proof that music for adults (and BY an adult) doesn't have to be deadly. What's more, her compositions are rich with hidden depths and nuances that reward repeated hearings. It took me literally years before I got that the subtext of her first solo effort, The Lucky One, was about being deep in mourning for a loved one, moving through the various stages of grief before emerging on the other side, healed and again ready to engage with the world on its own terms. (At least that's my perception of the record; I wouldn't be surprised if Christy had no idea that was what she was doing, or totally disagreed with my assessment. But hey, that's art for ya.) Her second CD, Bed of Roses, showed no diminution in quality; there are very few songs I love as much as "The Serpentine River."

After a period of keeping a low profile, she has a new website, and a new record coming. Good for her -- simply put, Christy is a profoundly decent person making music that resonates with a unique signature, a dimension that resonates with one's higher self. Perfect. Necessary. http://www.christymcwilson.com/

Amy Rigby "We're magicians, we make reality disappear," Amy Rigby sings on "Magicians," a track on her third album, The Sugar Tree. But the point about Rigby the songwriter is that she doesn't; she is, in fact, a high priestess of reality, presenting it unadorned save for wit, melody and high spirits, defiant in the face of it all, and providing an object lesson on how to grow older and still keep the rock flame alive (and the skirt above the knees) without looking sad. In the process, this not-quite-total-cynic and not-so-secret-romantic with a catch in her voice shores us up a bit more against the weariness of the world.

Amy Rigby is an adult who's been to the puppet show and seen the strings, and the cruelty of the music business/lovers/the world disappoints but doesn't greatly surprise her; in the end, it also doesn't faze her. Romance vs. Reality is one of her main themes, and although she seems constitutionally incapable of making love without cracking a joke in the middle, she's also capable of great tenderness (the shining example being "Sleepin' With The Moon," which I played for my future fiancee just before I returned to Europe for several months; she played it every night until I came back to her). Rigby's eye is ever on the Big Picture in the small details, and she works hard at keepin' it real, keepin' it universal and keepin' it pop. Check out her latest creations (you should) at http://www.amyrigby.com/ .

Kendra Smith Born to sing Zen koans and think different. The elusive Kendra doesn't have an official site, but this fan site (which includes my 1995 interview with her) is pretty decent: http://web.tiscali.it/wrongway/kendra/

Linda Smith No relation to Kendra (or Patti or Keely), I assume. Home-tapers' goddess, individualist squared; creates indefinably lovely pop deconstructions you can't dislodge from your head. An anonymous name concealing a singular talent from Baltimore. Get hooked. http://www.homemademusic.com/artists/lindasmith/

Thalia Zedek Challenging, true artist who deserves a wider audience (and what else is new). I've known Thalia since we met at college in 1979, and she's never stopped impressing or surprising me. http://www.kimcheerecords.com/bands/thaliazedek/

Historical entry: The Outnumbered Although they broke up back in 1987, this band still holds a special place in my personal pantheon, and I've kept in touch with main songwriter Jon Ginoli off and on over the years. Ginoli is now better known for starting a quite different band, San Francisco's Pansy Division, a pioneer in what was later dubbed the nationwide homocore movement (gay-oriented lyrics wedded to punk energy and tempos). But two decades back, he was based in Champaign, Illinois and leading a struggling all-male feminist garage band through its (mostly) unappreciated paces, touring extensively within the US and receiving critical acclaim but not much else. I was close to Jon's age, and identified with him more than a little. Like me, he had been a rock critic and put out a zine; we liked a lot of the same bands, and shared the same late-boomer regrets about arriving 'too late on the scene' for there to be much of a scene happening at all (or, as it turned out, we could have been a decade early...). Also, like me, he found artistic release in creative expressions of frustration, if not rage, about things like feeling stuck in an unsatisfactory job, trapped in a town that was dragging you down and working up the guts to finally get the hell out, and often feeling lonely and unappreciated in general. Life seemed on hold, in stasis without a clear end in sight. (Welcome to being in your twenties in the fabulous '80s, where satisfaction was sometimes hard to come by.) I flattered myself that were I in a band and wrote songs, I might be doing something not unlike what the Outnumbered were putting out. In short, I liked their attitude and willingness to go against the grain and say the kinds of things in song that you just weren't hearing anywhere else. (Plus, they had a good beat and you could dance to it.) Ginoli's songs were witty, caustic and hyper-verbal, sometimes nearly the musical equivalent of a lifestyle column for an alternative weekly. (I was intrigued the moment I laid eyes on the title of their first album, Why Are All The Good People Going Crazy -- this was clearly someone after my own heart.) Talk about music for the real world!

In one of my most satisfying acts as a music critic, I managed to get a rave review of their second album, Holding The Grenade Too Long, into Spin magazine in November 1986; parts of this review are still quoted on Parasol Records' website, where you can order the Outnumbered's best-of retrospective, Surveying The Damage: http://www.parasol.com/labels/parasol/parcd036.asp for a very reasonable price.

(I recently got around to ordering this CD myself, about damn time too, and was pleasantly surprised to find myself thanked in the liner notes, and the aforementioned review quoted yet again. I always wanted to be thanked in the liner notes of a CD, so hey hey, cool.)

I always respected Ginoli, Paul Budin and the others for their unswerving honesty (to the point of occasional listener embarrassment), sincerity, genuineness, lack of rock-star ego (!) and talent. You can read the Spin review elsewhere, but I'd like to end this retrospective by quoting my review of their final album, Work...Buy...Die (Edible), which appeared in Boston Rock #91:

"The Outnumbered, who broke up last summer, were one of the most important rock bands of the last 20 years, even if nobody knows it. The Illinois quartet had the guts to be Sensitive Males with a beat, commenting editorially on the problems of coping in the Copout Age.

"They had as many hooks and smarts as anyone, but what really set them apart was their subject matter: real life, real answers, or at least the right questions, mostly by leader/main mouth Jon Ginoli.

"Among other things, this brave and true record covers post-collegiate insecurity, one's first intimations of aging, being stuck in a rut, and moving to change that; and especially, endings. Rock 'n' roll didn't save the Outnumbered, which is their final message: everyone has to save themselves."

Amen to that.

Honorable mentions: X; Fountains of Wayne; Jonathan Richman; Mary Coughlan; Kelly Hogan; Slovenia's own Vlado Kreslin; Romania's own Taraf de Haidouks (that's one of the Taraf dudes gracing the main Music page); and a Texas contingent composed of Brave Combo, Little Jack Melody and His Young Turks, Kimmie Rhodes, and the Meat Purveyors (not to mention the godfather of indie rockers, Buddy Holly)...and on and on. Readers' suggestions welcome.