Petra Haden & The Sellouts: Unclassifiable

Petra Haden.

Petra Haden and her occasional cohorts in The Sellouts make wonderfully unclassifiable music: Their music is so varied that one category can't suffice. Haden mixes classical, jazz, blues, rock, folk and pop, often performing some unusual combination a cappella.

The daughter of legendary jazz musician Charlie Haden, Petra Haden began playing violin to imitate Captain Kangaroo, and rediscovered the instrument at age 20. She soon honed her voice to imitate the violin and other instruments, and joined the cultishly admired band That Dog, which received well-received albums throughout the '90s. Haden still performs covers of everything from "Thriller" to Bach's Prelude No. 2, and her latest album is an a cappella re-working of The Who Sell Out, which features only her voice, layered multiple times to re-create every instrument on the album.