Soundcheck

Musical ghosts haunt the Memphis band Lucero. The late Warren Zevon is evoked in one song, and the spirit of the late Alex Chilton’s groundbreaking Memphis group Big Star can be felt throughout the record. (Their 2015 album title, All A Man Should Do, is a line from a Big Star song.) Songwriter Ben Nichols uses a stirring blend of classic rock and Memphis soul, but maintains a distinctive voice. Lucero plays songs from All A Man Should Do, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2015.)

The Brooklyn-based band Wet first turned heads in 2013 with an EP packed with 90s-style synth-pop goodness. New Yorker magazine critic Sasha Frere Jones referred to their song “Don’t Wanna Be Your Girl” as “completely perfect” and made it one of his songs of the year. In 2016, after a major label bidding war, they released their full-length debut, called Don’t You. Wet (as a trio) joins us to play some of those songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2016.)

It's no small thing to command the attention of billions of people with nothing but the sound of your voice and an acoustic guitar. Ask British singer/songwriter Mike Rosenberg, aka Passenger, whose song "Let Her Go" became a legit worldwide phenomenon after its release in 2012. The song snowballed in slow motion, no instant smash, and wormed its way into ears and hearts one play at a time. Rosenberg brings his thoughtful and subtle songwriting to bear, playing songs from his 2016 record, Young As The Morning, Old As The Sea. in-studio.

Pianist Vijay Iyer, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, wear their composer and collaborator hats simultaneously in new music by Vijay Iyer, who reminds us that “the most turbulent music may contain stillness, coolness, even wisdom,” (Uneasy liner notes.) They share the joy in hearing each other together in a room creating something collaboratively based on something put on the page.

The members of the trio talk about optimism and hope - in spite of it all, their decades of shared connections, and some of their separate creative projects. Vijay also speaks to his perceived reputation for making art about subjects no one wants to talk about, and believing in the craft of making an album – the shape of it and the journey. Vijay and the trio play music from Vijay Iyer’s 2021 record, Uneasy, for the first in-studio since early 2020, in The Greene Space. - Caryn Havlik

Set list: “Combat Breathing,” “Children of Flint,” “Uneasy”

Watch "Combat Breathing":

Watch "Children of Flint":

Watch "Uneasy":

In Hayden Pedigo’s acoustic guitar playing one might hear the “loneliness and the space” of the Texas panhandle. The musician, composer, and former city-council candidate cites inspiration by guitarists from previous generations like Anthony Phillips (original Genesis guitarist), John Fahey, and Leo Kottke to sound very much like kickass fingerstyle guitarists of now, like Gwenifer Raymond and Toby Hay. Guitar nerds take note: Segovia is invoked, as are variations on multiple non-standard tunings, fingerpicks, and Leo Kottke’s masterful banter stories.

Hayden Pedigo’s latest record, Letting Go, combines ambient electronics, English pastoralism, pedal steel, and fingerstyle guitar on both 6 and 12-strings for really melodic pieces in hard-to-replicate tunings. Pedigo plays remotely from Lubbock, TX. - Caryn Havlik

Set List “Carthage,” “Some Kind of Shepherd” “Letting Go”

Watch "Carthage":

Watch "Some Kind of Shepherd":

Watch "Letting Go":

Singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash curates a program exploring the importance of protest music as part of our shared cultural history. She talks of how the rich oral tradition of roots music embraces migration stories, loss, resistance, and how we are moving to something better, but that it might be painful. And ultimately, protest songs can show us a path to get there. (Originally from Live With Carnegie Hall from June 2020.)

Set list: Rosanne Cash and Leventhal plays Bob Dylan's "License to Kill" Lizz Wright plays "Blessed the Brave"Elvis Costello sings both "Big Stars Have Tumbled" Rosanne Cash and John Paul White sing "We're All In This Together Now"

Watch the entire Live With Carnegie Hall program Rosanne Cash - Present Perfect: Songs of Protest and Memory:

The Norwegian-born, London-based singer Kari Jahnsen records under the name Farao. Her 2015 debut album is called Till It's All Forgotten, and prompted comparisons with Tune-Yards, countrywoman Jenny Hval, and a few other musical outliers. But Farao’s blend of arty pop and unusual arrangements might actually fool listeners into believing they’re hearing something like conventional pop. They are not. Farao uses stately synthesized strings, big grooves with anxious bursts of drumming, and her own implacable vocals in songs that often take unexpected twists and turns. She and her band play, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2015.)

Some songs you love because they communicate deep thoughts or powerful emotions. And sometimes you just want a ridiculously catchy hook. BRONCHO is certainly capable of the former, but in the case of its song "Class Historian," it wouldn’t matter if the band was singing about filing taxes, you might still be bouncing in our seats with that infectious melody stuck in your head all day.

While the Oklahoma band has been banging out classic fuzzed-out sounds for awhile, the band got a spike of attention when the HBO series Girls used the song "It's On." That song, along with "Class Historian," ended up on BRONCHO's 2014 album, Just Enough Hip To Be Woman, which draws on garage pop and glam rock in exciting ways. BRONCHO plays some these songs in-studio. Apologies in advance if you've still got that tune in your brain the rest of the week. (From the Archives, 2015.)

Tennessee-based songwriter Amythyst Kiah loves both roots and alternative music; and her songs often clothe dark subjects - suicide of a loved one, a descent into alcoholism - in bluesy stomps and ecstatic rock. The singer, guitarist, banjo player, and scholar (she holds a degree in Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Country Music Studies), has made records on her own and is a member of the formidable quartet called Our Native Daughters. On her 2021 solo album Wary + Strange, Amythyst Kiah sings of loss, grief, death, and hangovers and dealing with them all; she and her band play some of these tunes remotely. - Caryn Havlik

Set list: "Black Myself," "Firewater," "Hangover Blues"

Watch "Black Myself":

Watch "Firewater":

Watch "Hangover Blues":

In 2020, she also contributed a tribute to the Reverend Gary Davis for the online New York Guitar Festival:

The Brooklyn band Golden Suits is led by singer and guitarist Fred Nicolaus. You may know him from his earlier band Department of Eagles, or perhaps his duo with Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen. Fred released the first Golden Suits album in 2013 and has just put out the band’s followup effort, called Kubla Khan. It’s full of catchy, often literate, occasionally eccentric songs, which the band plays in-studio. (From the Archives, 2015.)  

Here's the dancey "Gold Feeling," where Nicolaus is out to prove that he has all of the right moves to his imaginary middle school dream girl.