Odds & Ends is a collection of unfinished tracks and demo recordings by British pop singer, Dido. The collection was put together by her management team, Nettwerk, and released promotionally in late 1995, in order to gain interest from record companies so that Dido could be signed to a major record label. All of the material was recorded between 1994 and 1995. Dido was brought to the attention of Arista Records, who were impressed with her collaborations and songwriting for the UK dance group Faithless, her work with a UK dance act spearheaded by her brother, Rollo Armstrong, and more importantly, the album. Arista Records signed Dido in the United States, eventually forming a deal with her brother Rollo Armstrong's record label, Cheeky Records, allowing her music to be released internationally. The track "Worthless" later appeared on The Highbury Fields EP, a five track sampler released to promote her debut album, No Angel. "Take My Hand" was included on the album itself, and "Sweet Eyed Baby" was remixed to create another album track, "Don't Think Of Me". "Worthless" and "Me" also appeared on the Japanese version of No Angel.

The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko (bass guitar, double bass, fiddle, trombone, vocals), Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, guitar, vocals), Garth Hudson (keyboard instruments, saxophones, trumpet), Richard Manuel (piano, drums, baritone saxophone, vocals) and Robbie Robertson (guitar, vocals). All five members were notable musicians in their own right.

The members of the Band first came together as they joined rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins's backing group, The Hawks, one by one between 1958 and 1963. Upon leaving Hawkins in 1964, they were briefly known as the Levon Helm Sextet with sax player Jerry Penfound being the sixth member, then Levon and the Hawks after Penfound's departure. In 1965, they released a single on Ware Records under the name Canadian Squires, but returned as Levon and the Hawks for a recording session for Atco later in 1965. At about the same time, Bob Dylan recruited Helm and Robertson for two concerts, then the entire group for his U.S. tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966. Dylan continued to collaborate with The Band over the course of their career, including the informal 1967 recordings that became The Basement Tapes and a joint 1974 tour.

Bob Dylan ( /ˈdɪlən/), born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist. He has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of Dylan's early songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'", became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving his initial base in the culture of folk music behind, Dylan's six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" has been described as radically altering the parameters of popular music in 1965. However, his recordings employing electric instruments attracted denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement.

Dylan's lyrics incorporated a variety of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed hugely to the then burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the songs of Woody Guthrie,Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, as well as the music and performance styles of Buddy Holly and Little Richard, Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres. His recording career, spanning fifty years, has explored numerous distinct traditions in American song—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing.

Marc Ford (born April 13, 1966 in Los Angeles, California), is an American blues-rock guitarist. He's a former lead guitarist of the rock and roll jam band The Black Crowes and the leader of his own bands (Burning Tree, Marc Ford & The Neptune Blues Club, Jefferson Steelflex, Fuzz Machine, Marc Ford & The Sinners).

Ford began his career with the blues-rock outfit Burning Tree in the late 1980s. A power trio featuring Ford on guitars and vocals, Mark Dutton on bass and Doni Gray on drums, Burning Tree released their self-titled debut album on Epic Records in 1990. A commercial failure but a critical success, Burning Tree allowed Ford and Co. to tour extensively throughout most of 1990 and 1991. The band's career was cut short when Ford left to join The Black Crowes, whom Burning Tree had opened for on its first (and only) tour.

In mid-1991, Marc Ford sat in a couple of times with The Black Crowes in-concert, performing The Allman Brothers Band's classic hit, "Dreams". When The Black Crowes severed their relationship with their original guitarist Jeff Cease, Ford was asked to fill the vacancy, stepping into the lineup just in time for the band to record their 1992 sophomore album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. The album would go on to reach Number 1 on the Billboard charts and earn a double platinum certificate for sales. Ford would go on to perform on the next two Black Crowes releases, Amorica (1994) and Three Snakes and One Charm (1996) and is also credited for tracks from the band's two unreleased albums (1993's Tall and 1997's Band; later released together as The Lost Crowes). His addition to the Black Crowes sound, which consisted primarily of slide guitar and southern twang, helped define the band at the time. Ford's ability to adapt to core songwriter, Rich Robinson's music and crunchy rhythm guitar sound, solidified him and Robinson, as arguably, the preeminent guitar duo of the 1990s.

Susan Claire Cowsill (born May 20, 1959; Canton, Ohio) is a musician, vocalist and songwriter. She is the youngest member of The Cowsills and the only daughter of parents Bud and Barbara Cowsill.

Susan began her musical career with The Cowsills in 1967; she made her debut on We Can Fly, the Cowsills' second MGM Records album released in early 1968. Her debut solo vocal was a song called Ask The Children, featured in the Cowsills third MGM album, Captain Sad And His Ship Of Fools. Her contribution to the Cowsills' backing vocals made her, upon her ninth birthday, the youngest person to be directly involved in a hit record when Indian Lake made the Top 10 in the early summer of 1968.

In 1969 she contributed to the vocals in what would become the Cowsills' biggest hit, Hair. She sang her line, "and spaghetti'd" with a squeakiness in her voice, which essentially became her calling card, which she still uses to this day when she performs the song live.

Susan was initially relegated to playing the tambourine, but by the time she left the group in 1971 (shortly after the release of their London Records album On My Side) she had learned to play other instruments; in an episode of the short-lived Barbara McNair Show she was seen playing bass guitar [1].