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Son Little has always recorded his music with a very hands-on approach.  That deft ear and attention to craft garnered the attention of such artists as Mavis Staples, who asked Little to produce her Grammy-winning EP.  But on his new album 'aloha,' he handed control to another producer for the first time.

Both Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn have taken the banjo to new heights; Washburn through her innovative collaborations with Chinese musicians, and Fleck through a multitude of projects ranging from classical concerti to his exploration of the African roots of the instrument. As a duo, they've worked to merge their different styles of playing into a unique sound heard on their latest album Echo In The Valley.

On her latest album Stonechild, singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop enlisted the help of producer John Parish, who she claims "killed one of her darlings" on the way to a record characterized by stark minimalist arrangments. The album's title and theme (and cover art) was inspired by an unusual mask on display at the Mutter Museum.  It led to Hoop's exploration of secrets, lies, and the process of letting go.

Sister duo Lily & Madeleine first joined us as teenagers back in 2014. Their beautiful debut album was full of shimmering indie pop that highlighted their marvelous sibling harmonies.  Now in their early twenties, the veteran singer/songwriters have just released their fourth full-length album called Canterbury Girls. 

Singer/songwriter Liz Longley is following a path that many musical artists have in recent years - a path toward complete artistic independence. But in Longley's case, the path was lined with accelerants - thousands of fans who stepped up to support an online fundraising campaign to regain control of the master recordings of her new album Funeral For My Past.

Back in 2006, a group of cellists in Portland got together for what they thought would be a one-off performance at the Doug Fir Lounge. It wasn't. Rather, it was the beginning of a long and expansive journey featuring over a hundred different members and well over a thousand different pieces of repertoire.

A member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and multiple-Grammy winner, Rodney Crowell has been making music for over forty years. In that time, he's released over twenty albums, written and recorded five consecutive number-one hits, and produced scores of albums for other stars. He's been honored with an ASCAP lifetime achievement award for his work.

Curtis Salgado has been a landmark in the Northwest blues music scene for over 30 years. His unique style of blues, soul, and r&b has propelled him to the top of the scene. In Alan Hager, Salgado found not only an excellent lead guitarist for his band, but a like minded scholar of music - able to turn on a dime in virtually any direction.

Growing up in Nairobi, Kenya, J.S. Ondara was tuned into the BBC and the vast world of music that was often as far away as the United States. None of those sounds resonated more clearly than those of one particular troubadour from Minnesota: Bob Dylan.  Fast forward ten years and J.S. Ondara has relocated to Minnesota, hoping to follow a path of inspiration and carve his own career as a singer and songwriter.

Shovels & Rope is the musical duo of Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst. Over the course of the last dozen years, the duo has fine tuned their gritty and self-described "imperfect" Americana sound across seven albums.

Jonathan Scales is one of the most creative and virtuosic steel pannists on the planet, and his ability has taken the instrument into territory not previously explored. With his trio mates of E'Lon JD on electric bass and Maison Guidry on the drums, the ensemble regularly turns on a dime, taking the music further into new creative spaces.

Texas Piano Man - the new album and persona of Robert Ellis - is something his friends and bandmates could see coming from miles away. In fact, Ellis had to create the full blown bedecked character in order to finally be himself on stage.

Boy & Bear have been living on the radio charts in their native Australia since 2011, when their debut album won them five Aria awards and landed three separate songs on the "best of the year" list assembled by influential radio station Triple-J.

Tinariwen, or ⵜⵉⵏⴰⵔⵉⵡⵉⵏ in their traditional Tamasheq language, is a group of Tuareg rock musicians from the Saharan Desert region of northern Mali. The band formed in 1979 in Algeria, and first started to gain a following outside the region in the early 2000s with the release of The Radio Tisdas Sessions. NPR calls the group "music's true rebels."

Donovan Woods is a known as a true songwriter's songwriter. His tunes have been recorded by major musical stars, including Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley and Billy Currington. But some of the tunes that come from his pen are reserved for his own recordings. In the last 18 months, Woods has released Both Ways, and The Other Way - an acoustic re-imagining of the songs.

Amy LaVere's voice is what catches you first - girlish, but with the depth of someone with a full book of stories. NPR’s Robert Siegel once said that Amy LaVere “specializes in lyrics that are more barbed than her sweet soprano prepares you for.” Her latest album Painting Blue - produced by her husband and frequent musical collaborator Will Sexton - was released earlier this year on Nine Mile Records. In our live session, Sexton joined LaVere for some tunes from the new album.

Molly Tuttle's facility on acoustic guitar is already well-known, but on her recently released debut album When You're Ready (Compass Records), she also displays her songwriting skills. She sat down with Eric Teel to talk about her upbringing in a musical home, her practice routine, and her recent haul of awards.