Johnny Irion

There's no mistaking Johnny Irion's unique pedigree -- his granduncle is literary giant John Steinbeck and his father-in-law is folksinger Arlo Guthrie -- but the South Carolina native gained a following on the strength of his own music, fronting several bands as a teenager before morphing into a country-folk artist as an adult. In 1993, at the tender age of 15, he formed Queen Sarah Saturday, a melodic band whose music predated the poppy, twangy, psychedelic Southern rock of future groups like My Morning Jacket. The group signed a record deal with Thirsty Ear, Sony Music's al...