The band that rode to platinum-selling success on the song “How to Save a Life” could now write a song about how the Muppets may have saved a band.

The Counting Crows’ new CD of cover tunes, Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation) is not that kind of album. The songs the band covers don’t come from any certain genre or era. So it isn’t about helping fans understand the musical influences that shaped the Bay-area group.

One of the real changes in how Ani DiFranco approaches live performing these days may be something she does while not performing. But rest assured, DiFranco indicated during a recent phone interview that it’s making a difference in her concerts.

These days, it’s become common for groups, especially in the rock genre, to start their own record labels and handle their own distribution and promotion. And here is moe., having released all but two of its previous 10 studio CDs on its own label, teaming up with a record company for a new CD, 'Whatever Happened to the La Las.'

Over the course of Wilco’s seven previous studio albums, singer/guitarist Jeff Tweedy has been viewed as the musical brains behind the critically acclaimed band. But one thing that is immediately apparent in talking to Wilco guitarist Nels Cline is that, as much as Tweedy is bandleader and songwriter, other voices are being heard on the group’s album.

The Who’s rock opera Tommy is now more than 40 years old. But one won’t hear Who singer Roger Daltrey accepting the notion that this piece of music, or for that matter, Who music in general, is something that falls into the realm of nostalgia or oldies.

In a way, the huge achievement that was The Black Parade CD and tour almost caused the guys in My Chemical Romance to forget who they are as a band.

One thing fans can count on with the current Primus tour (with original drummer Jay Lane on board and a new CD on the way) is it won’t be a nostalgia trip.

Kelly Crisp talks of Loud Planes Fly Low, the recently released CD she made with her musical partner in The Rosebuds, Ivan Howard, as if it’s the duo’s first album all over again. “It made us feel new, like we had pressed reset,” she says.

Wylde had recovered from a 2009 bout with serious blood clots, quit drinking (as part of his blood clot treatment regimen) and been dismissed as Ozzy Osbourne's primary songwriting collaborator and guitarist. Plus, for the first time, Wylde had his own studio in which to record Order of the Black.