Don Dixon & the Jump Rabbits

Don Dixon's nearly 40-year career in the music industry has traveled many different paths over the decades. As a producer, he was behind the boards for career-defining albums from R.E.M., the Smithereens and Matthew Sweet. As an artist, Dixon has racked up nine albums, including his latest, The Entire Combustible World in One Small Room, which is a concept album of sorts. With Dixon looking into 11 different rooms -- including a hotel suite on the west coast of Mexico, a women's university dorm, and an intensive care unit -- the album is loaded with the jangly guitars and sarcastically gritty lyrics that he's known for.

Although Dixon usually performs solo or as a duo with wife Marti Jones, on the current tour, he's backed by a touring band. The Jump Rabbits -- featuring guitarist Jamie Hoover (the Spongetones) and drummer Jim Brock (Kathy Mattea) -- are supporting Dixon, as well as playing tracks from the pair's upcoming album The Nu Look, which will be released either this year or early 2008. Dixon describes the album as having a more "bar-friendly" sound that showcases the power of the Jump Rabbits.