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The Kansas City pianist's big band eventually became the Count Basie Orchestra, and his ensemble's style came to represent his hometown's sound. The blogger and the Boss Lady have a listen to his 1932 classic.

The Dwight Twilley Band scored its biggest hit, "I'm on Fire," in 1975, and then struggled for years to achieve stardom that never arrived. Now the band's lead singer, Twilley, is back. Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews his new album Green Blimp, which also features vocals by Susan Cowsill.

"Told You Once" is the kind of smart, idiosyncratic guitar-pop The Apples in Stereo's members have been making for 15 years now -- it's a paisley-colored romp about wanting to steal someone's girlfriend, with singer Robert Schneider mustering as much animosity as possible. Which is to say, none at all.

Port O'Brien writes indie-folk songs that are both haunting and laden with pop hooks — songs that make you sad even as you sing along with their catchy choruses. Here, the band plays songs from its latest album, 2009's Threadbare.

Title Tracks is led by John Davis, a Washington, D.C., singer-songwriter known for his contributions to Georgie James and Q and Not U. Davis' music is awash in bouncy hooks and sing-along refrains, but a close listen to "Black Bubblegum" reveals sharp pain and an obsession with conflicted relationships.

Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser have dubbed Congratulations a "no singles" album. The duo's sophomore release is adventurous and bold, featuring nine psychedelic, space-inspired tracks. Hear the album in its entirety until its official release April 13.

As 2009 winds down and the year-end best-of lists come flooding in, a lot of the same bands pop up again and again. In the spirit of looking out for the underdogs (small-town bands, basement-based indie labels, self-released self-starters), here are 12 albums worth checking out from artists you might not have heard.

While American hitmakers like Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift climbed the British charts in 2009, here in the U.S., we saw a serious influx of great music from the U.K. You wouldn't necessarily call these bands chart-toppers, either here or there, but they do add up to something resembling a British Invasion.

Since Weezer's debut in 1994, the band has released six more albums, gone through a re-organization, and earned a devoted following. Their new album is called Raditude. Last year, Rivers Cuomo, Weezer's lead singer, guitarist and principal songwriter, released two solo CDs of songs that didn't make it onto the band's albums.

The songs "And Then You're Gone" and "But Now I'm Back" began as one, with a little help from Franz Schubert. With some ingenious songwriting and a little help from NPR's Ari Shapiro, together the songs tell the tale of a love lost — and perhaps won again.