Live Music Thursdays

Another great video from Lydia Loveless' Sound Opinions session. This one is the song about a stalker that she imagines in alt-country hero Steve Earle.

There's a chance that Ohio native Lydia Loveless could have been the next Carrie Underwood. That's what the producer of her first album, The Only Man.

R&B maverick Van Hunt brought his band into our studios recently and did a scorching set of five songs mostly from his recent "What Were You Hoping For?" album. This video is of a B-side from that album, "The Savage, Sincere L of P."

Monday on Eight Forty-Eight we were joined by Chris Salveter and Ryan Boyles of the indie folk four-piece, Judson Claiborne, before the band set out on their East Coast tour.

As summer peeks around the corner, I can't think of a more fitting song to listen to than The Shins' "New Slang." Even if it doesn't change your life, maybe it'll change your summer. Here's James Mercer performing the song on Sound Opinions.

Singer, and band namesake Patrick Watson bellows and whispers hauntingly against the sometimes fierce, sometimes fragile musical arrangements the band brings to record.

The New Jersey punk band Screaming Females would be a lot like many other bands that came before them if it weren't for guitarist and singer Marissa Paternoster. Despite her small frame, her vocal and guitar styles are big and bombastic- filled with shredding solos and forceful phrasings.

On Damien Jurado's most recent album, Maraqopa, he has continued his collaboration with producer Richard Swift and garnered even more critical praise.

James Mercer has been the driving force of The Shins since they formed in 1996. But in the five years between Wincing the Night Away and their new album Port of Morrow, the band underwent a wholesale personnel change- leaving Mercer the sole founding member.

In honor of Mother's Day, we bring you Elizabeth Mitchell and her daughter Storey performing one of Bill Withers' sweetest songs. Mitchell and Daniel Littleton were the leaders of '90s chamber pop band Ida and now perform as a family.

The confessional singer-songwriter brought her formidible band to WBEZ's Jim and Kay Mabie Performance Studio to perform songs from her new album Tramp on Jagjaguwar Records. As always, it was a striking and memorable performance.

Back by popular demand, this is another track from the recent Alabama Shakes session on Sound Opinions. This is "You Ain't Alone" the song of theirs that also shows up in a jewlery commercial. I think this is a much more pleasant way to listen to the tune.

The Alabama Shakes are on a meteoric rise through the music world. Last September their first EP landed the song "You Ain't Alone" in a commercial and the band signed with a couple legendary record labels.

Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince have been wowing critics for 12 years as The Kills. Originally a transatlantic collaboration, the band have produced four albums fueled equally by a reverence for garage blues and pure swagger.

Mr. Rhythm himself came to our studios this week to perform on Afternoon Shift with Steve Edwards. Andre Williams has survived decades in the music industry, brushing elbows with Ike Turner, Stevie Wonder and Jack White. His latest album is Hoods and Shades on Bloodshot Records.