WFUV's Take Five

At 60, John Hiatt is still serious about making records, and it shows. His new album (his 21st) is 'Mystic Pinball,' and like his 2011 release, 'Dirty Jeans & Mudslide Hymns,' it was produced by Kevin Shirley. This one returns John to a grittier sound, which we're pretty excited about, and it also brought him back to FUV for a conversation with host Claudia Marshall.

The New England-born, Brooklyn-based band Rubblebucket has a sound that's sort of tUnE-yArDs meets Tom Tom Club meets Phish, and they like their horns loud and their dance beats exuberant. Although they do have a new EP called 'Oversaturated,' this 8-piece band is all about performing live, and they did just that in a Studio A session with host Claudia Marshall.

The New England-born, Brooklyn-based band Rubblebucket has a sound that's sort of tUnE-yArDs meets Tom Tom Club meets Phish, and they like their horns loud and their dance beats exuberant. Although they do have a new EP called 'Oversaturated,' this 8-piece band is all about performing live, and they did just that in a Studio A session with host Claudia Marshall.

This gifted pianist, composer and ace musical trickster has built an unusual career, spanning classical, jazz, rock and rap, but on his latest album, 'Solo Piano II,' Chilly Gonzales returns to the keys. On a recent visit to FUV, he proved that he's also a fascinating and opinionated conversationalist, so it was a mix of talk and beautiful live tunes during this session with host Alisa Ali.

No one was more excited than host Rita Houston to have the First Lady of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, visit FUV. After Jack White produced Wanda's 2011 album, 'The Party Ain't Over,' she proves just that with her new album, 'Unfinished Business' — which was produced by Justin Townes Earle. Get ready to be schooled on rockabilly, country, gospel and more, in Jackson's recent visit to Studio A.

Longtime electric bluesman Robert Cray returns with his veteran band and his 16th studio album, called 'Nothin But Love.' The new batch of songs proves that the blues can be created every which way, mixing in soul, rock, jazz and more — and no one does that better than Cray. Hear proof, as host Darren DeVivo welcomes the Robert Cray Band to Studio A.

The Alternate Side's Alisa Ali talks with Canadian musician Diamond Rings (a.k.a. John O'Regan), about his sophomore album, 'Free Dimensional.'  With his band, he also performs live versions of the songs 'I'm Just Me' and '(I Know) What I'm Made Of' in WFUV's Studio A.

Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers are back. With original keyboardist and collaborator Rami Jaffee returned to the fold, the band delivers its sixth studio album, 'Glad All Over' — which is also powered by former Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer, Jack Irons, and a guest appearance by Mick Jones. Does the new album 'Reboot the Mission' of the band? Jakob and Rami spoke about that idea and more during a recent visit to FUV with host Claudia Marshall.

They earned a Grammy nomination for their country-inflected 2010 album 'Infinite Arms,' but South Carolina's Band of Horses isn't coasting. For their new album, 'Mirage Rock,' they tapped legendary classic rock producer Glyn Johns, and we had a chance to hear the results - acoustically - when Ben Bridwell and the guys stopped by Studio A to talk with host Darren DeVivo.

From FUV's Alisa Ali: 'The 'story' behind Field Report is that Chris Porterfield used to be in a band called DeYarmond Edison with Justin Vernon (a.k.a. Bon Iver) along with brothers Brad and Phil Cook, and Joe Westerlund, who are currently in the band Megafaun. The guys are all still good friends, and there is no bad blood at all. In fact quite the opposite: Vernon actually invited Porterfield and Field Report to his studio to record their debut album, which for the record (pun intended) is gorgeous. The album is very lyrically driven, which is interesting because Chris didn't start writing lyrics until much later in his music career.  He used to consider himself just a 'background player' in DeYarmond Edison. Normally it really is a tragedy when a great band breaks up, but in this case DeYarmond Edison gave rise to three fantastic bands, with Field Report being the last one to form. Hard to say which is best of the three, but easy to see that they are all very talented.'

You've probably heard this big-voiced, ukulele-wielding singer-songwriter, even if you haven't heard of her. Well, we'd like to change that. LP has written songs for Rihanna and Christina Aguilera, but it's her own super-powerful performances that are really earning attention. One was a recent FUV Live show at Rockwood Music Hall, hosted by FUV's Alisa Ali, which features songs from LP's recent EP, 'Into The Wild.'

The Alternate Side's Kara Manning talks with UK band, Django Django, about its self-titled, full-length debut. The band discusses the learning process they went through during the recording of the album, and they also perform live versions of their songs, 'Default' and 'Waveforms' in WFUV's Studio A.

The east coast indie-rock trio Jukebox the Ghost is all about imagination and perspective, and they've put all that passion and enthusiasm into their new album, 'Safe Travels.' The songs are their most serious and personal yet, and the band told host Alisa Ali all about the record during a recent visit to FUV. Don't worry - they backed up the talk with some great live tunes too.

They came from punk in San Diego, but they've arrived in Brooklyn with an impassioned roots-rock that really shines on the live stage. So, we invited Delta Spirit for a slightly stripped-down FUV Live show hosted by Rita Houston, which spanned the band's three-album catalog and rocked Rockwood Music Hall.

When your dad is the late Texas bluesman Johnny Copeland, there's no point in running from your destiny with music. So Shemekia Copeland embraced it, and even at 33, she's earned her 'Queen of the Blues' stripes. Now she's back with a mix of covers and originals on the new album '33 1/3,' and she stopped by FUV to belt out a few of the songs live in a Studio A session with host Darren DeVivo.