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Music reviewers generally wait until November and December to assess the year in music. But 2008's halfway point seems like a good place to stop and look back at six busy months full of critics' darlings, Internet sensations and even, in a grim commercial climate, commercial hits.

The young singer, part of a wave of British women finding success in the U.S. by making old sounds new, is reimagining folk with clear-eyed lyrics that lay bare her dreams and insecurities. The 18-year-old's debut album is called Alas, I Cannot Swim.

Chicago has beaten out San Francisco for the dubious title of having the nation's most expensive gas. Chicagoans can blame high taxes of almost 80 cents a gallon, along with a special fuel recipe required to protect air quality.

As fitness goes high-tech, even your bathroom scale is going digital. One company went from making old-fashioned spring-loaded scales to scales that aren't just digital but use all sorts of high-tech applications to talk directly to your wireless device.

He still isn't very well-known in the U.S., but Solal is considered one of the greatest living European jazz musicians. And at 81, the pianist still keeps a schedule of concerts and club gigs that would wear out someone half his age.

With so many classic Christmas carols to choose from, creating brand new ones can be daunting, but English conductor-composer John Rutter has been at it for nearly 50 years. He shares his tips on what makes a good carol.

The world-famous cellist has a challenge for his fans and fellow musicians: Get online and produce a virtual collaboration with him. Simply download Ma playing "Dona Nobis Pacem," add new music, mix and then upload it back to the site, where the rest of the submissions can be heard. Ma says he'll play music, in person, with the winner.

He didn't see it coming when his sensitive crooning launched him to pop fame in 1996. But with one Tony Award-winning musical in the books and another production on the way, his work as a stage composer has put him in the spotlight again.

If you've never heard of Bettye LaVette, the soul singer who belted out "A Change Is Gonna Come" with Jon Bon Jovi at the Inauguration Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial on Jan 18., you may be wondering why.

Joss Whedon's new television show, Dollhouse, follows a group of young women and men who have volunteered to have their personalities and memories erased.