Mike Doughty

It's all too rare to see artists from the '90s make their way out of that decade with a shred of decorum, let alone alive and working. Former Soul Coughing front man Mike Doughty not only did it breathing, but ended up besting his SC work by using his two best assets — his trademark vocals and his songwriting abilities — to garner an ace record deal with Dave Matthews's ATO imprint and win a newfound base of diehards. Although Doughty had done some solo recording in between SC albums, it wasn't until five years after their breakup that he released his first proper solo set. 2005's Haughty Melodic led to Doughty's opening for the Dave Matthews Band and banking a hit single with "Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well." Follow-up Sad Man Happy Man, which closes with a Johnny Cash-style cover of Daniel Johnston's "Casper the Friendly Ghost," came out this past fall.