Gary Jules

Although you may have missed it, San Diego singer-songwriter Gary Jules released his debut album back in 1998. Greetings From the Side briefly saw the light of day as its label, A&M, was folding into Universal and dropping many artists from the roster as a result. Disillusioned, Jules took his time writing his sophomore effort, and when Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets was released in 2001, it was on his own label. Jules' smoky, emotive voice was the perfect compliment to the sparse medium in which he worked, and the album began to create a strong word-of-mouth buzz. Fortune began to smile on Jules with the inclusion of his stunning, haunting version of "Mad World" on the Donnie Darko soundtrack. The song became a hit in many countries across Europe, and eventually the international buzz became strong enough to score Jules a deal in the States. Ironically, Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets was released in 2004 by the very same label that dropped him years earlier.