Luke Doucet

At the end of the '90s, Luke Doucet left Veal — the adventurous surf-rock band he had been fronting over three albums — partly because his bandmates had judged some of the songs he'd written for them to be too mellow. Veal's loss was our gain, as Doucet debuted solo in 2001 with the folky Aloha Manitoba (melt into "Vanessa" and sway with "Outlaws"), hit his beautifully measured stride in 2005 with Broken (highlights include the simply finger-picked "Wallow," and the two-part dream-harmonies of "Free"), and lit up 2008 with Blood's Too Rich, which found him doffing a respectful cap towards his collaborators (his wife, Melissa McClelland, among their number) by extending the band name to Luke Doucet & The White Falcon. Superb.