Less talk, more tunes.

Go.

—

Lianne LaHavas – What You Don’t Do (live @ NPR)
Oh my, you’re gonna want to hear this next one’s voice. Wow. The first song is a piano-only rendition of a quality love song by a new British folk/soul singer. Preview and purchase her album, Blood, released earlier this year,right here. And feel free to stick around for the 2nd and 3rd songs of the performance if you’ve got the time. Minor gripe: it’s always sad to hear a British accent mysteriously disappear when singing, but her voice is good enough to let it slide.

—

Sons of Santos – Intro / Strong Enough / How ‘Bout It
Sons of Santos are a four-piece acoustic folkish band based in Austin, Texas. They’re comprised of an acoustic guitar, upright bass, keyboard, and cello. They manage to combine the impressive musicianship of a band like Punch Brothers with some of the immediately accessible folk charm of Mandolin Orange or The Oh Hellos.

You can help support their debut record, Spindletop Blues, via Kickstarter right here. The videos are just four dudes playing in the middle of a living room, so the sound quality isn’t the best, but there’s a whole lot of promise here. These clips deserve many more views than the few hundred they currently have.

Get in on that Kickstarter campaign now and feel totally justified in telling your friends you’ve been down with SoS since Day 1.

—

Raury – The Sea
Here’s a little love song, mostly just a dude with a guitar, with some muted trumpet and a few oohs & ahhs thrown in about halfway through for good measure.

—
WeAreBaker – The Farmer’s Daughter
How about a spooky, slinky tune by a male/female duo from New York City. Yup, might as well check it out.

—

Alexander Leggett – Thread of Joy
Nothing fancy here, just a good acoustic song by a Canadian songwriter with a silly haircut. His recently-released album, Moon of Day, is full of earnest, layered songs with thoughtful lyrics and clever arrangements.

—

Chris Thile – Another New World (Josh Ritter cover)
How about one of our country’s best mandolinists covering one of its best living songwriters — probably a very good thing is going to result.

—

Chris Stapleton – Tiny Desk Concert
As the year wind downs, you’re going to see Traveller on many ‘best of the year’ album lists.
(Super-Secret Insider Tip: That’s because it’s one of the best albums of the year.)

—

William Elliott Whitmore – Civilizations
And how about a hand-drawn lyric video from an under-appreciated Americana songwriter. Mr. Whitmore’s latest record, Radium Death, was released earlier this year. You can preview and purchase it here.

—

Townes Van Zandt – Better Than Waiting Around to Die
Let’s finish with Townes Van Zandt being overall awesome and bringing a grown man to tears in this video.

—

Until next week, cheers…