Anthony Hamilton

As D'Angelo, the neo-soul Harry Houdini, looks less and less likely to get around to making a follow-up to his 2000 genre benchmark Voodoo, prudent R&B fans might do well to undertake a search for some other slow-burning stud with a honey-baked croon. This North Carolina native's résumé is as impressive as any other applicant's: He favors trucker hats and scraggly facial hair, sang backup for D'Angelo on tour and last year released the sumptuous Comin' From Where I'm From, a leisurely long-player as unconcerned with radio-pop economy as Voodoo. If Hamilton works on his abs a little, the job's his to lose.