Ryan Bingham initially earned his stripes as a road warrior, bringing his high-energy, roots-rock music to astounded audiences around Texas and beyond. Winning an Oscar this year for "The Weary Kind," the theme song for the film Crazy Heart, introduced the talented newcomer to a newer and expanded audience. His voice is full of grit and soul that don't seem to fit his age, but they're a perfect match for his re-crafting of "That's How Strong My Love Is," one of the great ballads made most famous by the inimitable Otis Redding.

Trans-Atlantic indie rock duo The Kills have earned numerous comparisons to the Velvet Underground due to the band's dark sound, the spare guitar of Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart's haunting vocals. The Kills put their reverence for the Velvets on full display with a loving cover of the influential pre-punk band's scarred but smart ballad "Pale Blue Eyes."

It's an intersection between two major modern music talents: John Legend, one of the premier R&B singers of our era, and The Roots, the best live hip-hop band in the world. They've come together to re-craft an impassioned yet very funky version of Ernie Hines's "Our Generation," a lost classic with a message about improving the future that resonates today.

Lauded electro-pop band Passion Pit have re-crafted the Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight" in a manner that is at once reverent and full of daring. Michael Angelakos' affinity for the song is clear in the way his high voice hems to the original melody. But where the Pumpkins went for ambitious grandiosity, Angelakos submerges the song into an electronic world of synth.

When Tony! Toni! Toné!'s Raphael Saadiq went solo he did so with a blueprint. His goal was to modernize R&B without cutting ties with its past, creating complex tunes that honored Motown while addressing issues of the day. He's chosen to cover "It's a Shame" by The Spinners, the legendary Detroit ensemble whose classic songbook was the instant vintage of its day.

Jason Mraz is something of a pop throwback, a guy able to hook millions of people with a song performed in the most simple way. His sweet and simple single "I'm Yours" has the distinction of being the longest running song ever to stay on Billboard's Hot 100, having resided there more than 70 weeks. He's chosen to re-craft another monster single with a clear message: Norman Greenbaum's spiritual hit "Spirit in the Sky," a two-million seller forty years ago.

Bomba Estereo tagged its album Blow Up, which speaks for the band as well as its music. The Colombian electro-pop group thrills with its fusion of Latin Cumbia and explosive club-ready beats. Twenty-one years after Technotronic created a dancefloor masterpiece with "Pump Up the Jam," Bomba Estereo have re-crafted the song in their unique big-beat, bi-lingual style.

James Mercer's natural gift with a melody helped the Shins grow from well-liked indie-rock band into a top tier pop group. The unavoidable (and unavoidably catchy) single "New Slang" became, with some thanks to a choice movie reference, a cultural touchstone. Mercer's influences are usually worn on his sleeve, so it's no surprise that he was a fan of the British pop band Squeeze, who turned out fetching melodies in armfuls during the late-'70s and 1980s. Mercer finds solid gold re-crafting the group's 1979 gem "Goodbye Girl."

Colbie Caillat was minus-10-years and counting when the band Blondie formed, and still six years from birth when the band carted their first number one single. But the Breakthrough singer remembers well the legendary new wave band's comeback in 1999 with the lofty single "Maria," whose inimitable chorus she re-crafts with youthful enthusiasm.

Classicists through and through, She & Him songs often sound like they sprang from a radio 40 or so years ago. The duo of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward are more interested in nuance than bombast, so they've jumped into the catalog of the late teen idol Rick Nelson for a sprightly version of "Fools Rush In."

Glen Hansard's band the Frames have been quiet of late, in no small part due to the singer-songwriter's more recent pursuit as half of the successful The Swell Season, his duo with Marketa Irglova. Anybody who's seen The Commitments knows about Hansard's affinity for old American soul music. By re-crafting "Young Hearts Run Free," Hansard follows the career of one of the great Southern soul singers, Candi Staton, who rode disco to pop stardom.

When Nas rhymes, people tend to listen, as they have since he released his debut album, the instant classic Illmatic in 1994. He declared hip-hop to be dead and then set out to resurrect it. Nas tends to pull his state-of-the-streets songs from the present, but now he's taking a rare look back, putting his stamp on "Hey Young World," a cautionary rhyme from storytelling rap legend Slick Rick.