Mark Knopfler

Mark Knopfler is a good 25 years past his pop-culture heyday—see "Money For Nothing" and its laughably "cutting-edge" video—but his laconic guitar playing in Dire Straits remains one of the more likeably laidback mainstays of classic-rock radio. Since Dire Straits disbanded in 1995, Knopfler has focused on low-key blue-collar anthems that sound more like Nebraska-era Springsteen than the arena-rock anthems of his past. Now 60, Knopfler seems destined never to have writer's block—and so long as he keeps releasing albums like 2009's sweetly affecting Get Lucky, his sixth solo effort, here's hoping he never does.

Updated 04/14/2010