Friday, 10th

OLLABELLE Ollabelle consist of six veterans of Lower Manhattan's eclectic club scene, including multi-instrumentalist Jimi Zhivago and vocalist Amy Helm (who's the daughter of famed drummer Levon Helm). The group's self-titled debut draws on jazz, blues, folk and, most significantly, rural gospel. The record sounds great but has the knowing wink of hipsters drawn more to style than substance. 12:30 p.m., That Tent —Paul Griffith

JOSS STONE Teenaged soul singer Stone walks a fine line between the vintage R&B of her mentor Betty Wright and the post-Britney cheese of contemporaries like Kelly Clarkson. Though her latest recording, Mind, Body & Soul, veers toward the latter, Stone, who's British, maintains her dignity thanks to solid songwriting, ample Hammond organ and a flesh-and-blood horn section. 2:15 p.m., Which Stage —Paul Griffith

JOANNA NEWSOM Maybe the most pixilated member of the resurgent avant-folk underground, Newsom plucks her harp and warbles her creaky poesy with such singular passion and focus that she often gets pegged as an acquired taste. That may be, but immersion in 2004's epiphanic Milk-Eyed Mender reveals a mysticism, musicality and vision that transcend charges of novelty. Newsom's show at The 5 Spot last year was riveting, but it's hard to imagine the magic translating as well outdoors, at least not amid the muddle and buzz of Bonnaroo. 2:30 p.m., The Other Tent —Bill Friskics-Warren

PETER ROWAN & CRUCIAL REGGAE The notion of a bluegrass hippie heading a reggae band has "bad trip" written all over it. Yet, despite the external differences between the two genres, there are notable similarities, particularly the way bluegrass's mandolin and reggae's guitar percolate the rhythms. And if anyone can pull it off, it's Peter Rowan; the former Blue Grass Boy recorded his Reggaebilly album at Jamaica's Tuff Gong Studios with respected reggae players, some of whom will be joining him onstage here. 2:30 p.m., This Tent —Jack Silverman

MADELEINE PEYROUX Peyroux's 1996 debut album was delightful, finding considerable common ground between Billie Holiday, Patsy Cline and Edith Piaf. Apparently, her ambition is as unhurried as her sultry delivery—her well-received follow-up, Careless Love, was released just last year. A textbook chanteuse, Peyroux is best savored in an intimate club; still, her extraordinary voice and uncluttered arrangements should make for a welcome respite from some of the more melodically challenged acts on the bill. 4:30 p.m., The Other Tent —Jack Silverman

HERBIE HANCOCK'S HEADHUNTERS 2005 Described by one blogger as "Bitches Brew without the coke," Hancock's epochal jazz-funk LP Headhunters is a primer in taste, syncopation and greasy goodness that sounds as fresh today as it did during the Watergate years. The 2005 edition of his Headhunters will perform only a handful of shows, so this a rare opportunity to catch the master and his formidable cohorts, including trumpeter Roy Hargrove, bassist Marcus Miller, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and guitarists Lionel Loueke and John Mayer. (Yes, that John Mayer, but before you moan, give him a chance. His pretty-boy pop image belies his considerable chops.) 6:15 p.m., Which Stage —Jack Silverman

Saturday, 11th

RILO KILEY From Martha Wainwright and Kathleen Edwards to Karen O and Eleanor Friedberger, there's no lack of irascible, articulate "It girls" in rock right now. The most enthralling and pop-wise, though, just might be Jenny Lewis, the irrepressible singer and lyricist of this indie-gone-pop band (well, semi-pop anyway). Lewis certainly galvanized More Adventurous, her band's cathartic, song-rich breakthrough from last year, a record that's starting to sound like one for the ages. 3:30 p.m., That Tent —Bill Friskics-Warren

IRON & WINE The Romantic artwork on Iron & Wine's website features a wide-eyed lion sitting in a field of lambs. It's an appropriate image for this Florida singer-songwriter (a.k.a. Samuel Beam), whose feathery vocals and delicate slide guitar playing coexist with powerful female characters on his recent EP, Woman King. 7 p.m., That Tent —Paul Griffith

DE LA SOUL "Fuck being hard, Posdnuos is complicated," chafed the bespectled MC of this groundbreaking hip-hop troupe, refuting gangsta rap's thuggish, crotch-grabbing posturing back in the day. Equal parts boho and Day-Glo, De La Soul have never subscribed to fashion, not even their own, so their wit and whimsy ought to fit as well at Bonnaroo as anywhere. They'll certainly up the fest's funk quotient, particularly if they cherry-pick some of the grooves from 2001's soulsonic AOI: Bionix. 2:30 a.m., That Tent —Bill Friskics-Warren

Sunday, 12th

AMOS LEE This schoolteacher-turned-troubadour from Philly comes on like a cross between Bill Withers and John Prine, a wry, lightly funky singer-songwriter with an ear for phrasing and an eye for humanity who seduces rather than socks it to you. Play Lee's debut once or twice, and you might shrug; return to it a third or fourth time, and it'll have its hooks in you. 12:30 p.m., That Tent —Bill Friskics-Warren

TOOTS & THE MAYTALS If Bob Marley's music is the mother's milk of reggae, Toots Hibbert's is its dark rum. At a time when Marley's legacy has been diluted by Trustafarians, Hibbert and his top-ranking band still play formative reggae that's soul-influenced, spiritual and guilelessly sensual. 12:30 p.m., What Stage —Paul Griffith

KERMIT RUFFINS & THE BARBEQUE SWINGERS Ruffins is a New Orleans trumpeter, singer and bandleader in the mold of Louis Armstrong. As part of the Rebirth Brass Band, he incorporated contemporary songwriting into the Crescent City's traditional jazz. His current band, The Barbeque Swingers (Ruffins often barbecues at his gigs), lean more toward stomp and jump blues. 3:30 p.m., That Tent —Paul Griffith

MY MORNING JACKET More than a few MMJ reviews start with some whining about how the reviewer is sick of hearing Neil Young comparisons, then proceed to call the kettle black. Sure, conceptually MMJ are on a different path, but music is first and foremost about sound, and in this case—from Jim James' lonesome tenor to the harmonica to the rudimentary yet heartfelt guitar solos—it's a reasonable reference point. The difference is that MMJ's music is sprawling and a few bubbles off plumb. 4 p.m., Which Stage —Jack Silverman

LAKE TROUT Baltimore's Lake Trout are trippy in a dark way and are inclined toward extended improv that's much more groove-oriented and less noodling than a lot of other Bonnaroo acts. They're one of the best things to come onto the jam-band scene in recent years, largely because they didn't come out of the jam-band scene. 4 p.m., The Other Tent —Jack Silverman

EARL SCRUGGS & FRIENDS It might be worth the price of admission just to see the smile on Earl Scruggs' face while he plays to thousands of screaming kids as the sun goes down on Bonnaroo's final day. Despite the fact that many of the festival-goers think the Grateful Dead wrote "Big River" and "El Paso," surely they realize that the banjo pioneer was pivotal to the bluegrass sound at the root of many of their favorite acts. After many hours' worth of pale (if heartfelt) imitations, Scruggs is sure to shine even brighter. 7 p.m., This Tent —Jack Silverman