JPR Live Sessions

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.He stopped by JPR to perform songs from his critically acclaimed debut album Tales of America, and to share stories of how his true impessions (or stories) of America have changed since those days of listening from afar on shortwave radio.

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.The duo joined JPR's Eric Teel at Ashland's Hearsay Restaurant, Lounge & Garden to talk about what first attracted the two musicians to one another (both musically and romantically), how their desire to simply roll up sleeves and get stuff done has led them to perfect their current sound, tour the country while raising a family, and even make a feature film.

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.

The Commonheart is an 8-piece soul band from Pittsburgh. Stocked with fantastic instrumentalists and vocalists at every spot, the band flows seamlessly through rock, soul, r&b, gospel and more on their latest album Pressure .