Whether the pond she's skating across is folk, pop-rock, or jazz, Joni Mitchell attacks song with an unfailing ear for off-kilter melody and poetically sparked lyrics. Her thirty-plus years as a musician have seen her experiment with many styles and join forces with players from Neil Young to Charles

Dreamy, Elegant, Feminine, Intimate, Religious, Sincere, Women's literature

Most can say without hesitation that Bob Dylan wore the pop music crown during the 1960s, and his influence on American music has been surpassed by few. Dylan reinvented the Folk genre by personalizing Folk songs, reconnecting rock and country, and contributing a vocal sound that influenced artists o

Death, Political, Quirky, Rebel, Religious, Rough, Sincere

"I've got to keep experimenting. I feel like I'm just beginning. I have part of what I'm looking for in my grasp, but not all." John Coltrane's music is an experiment in emotional expression. He consistently pursued new domains of musical and spiritual intensity, and developed a style charged with pa

Beats, Distorted, Excessive, Experimental, Free jazz, Hard bop/post-bop, Improvised, Religious

Smithson is best known for his large-scale earthworks -- including "Spiral Jetty" (located in the Great Salt Lake, Utah), "Broken Circle," and "Spiral Hill" (both in a Holland quarry) -- in which he reshapes landscapes in a way that recalls both the forces of nature and ancient archeological sites.

Catastrophe, Environmental art, Ethereal, Fleeting, Huge, Monumental, Religious