Audio Vault

A beguiling singer/songwriter who played Mountain Music Fest last summer, and came to Seattle for Toast of the Cascades this summer, Meiko shares her recipe for Hunch Punch, refuses to reveal her real name, and plays two songs from her current album plus two new songs.

SONGS: Boys With Girlfriends, Reasons to Love You, Stuck On You, Real Real Sweet

Ben's a singer/songwriter whose music is inpsired by his world travels. He spent some time in the Northwest (Montana and Portland) and has just released an EP called Aquarian Son. His song Ashes -- part of this session -- is on our Emerging Mountain Artist CD.

SONGS: California, Ashes, Isabel's Song, Favorite Song

All the way from Australia, where she's already well established, Sarah's one of the stars of the Mountain Emerging Artist CD that we're handing out all summer long. Her own album As Day Follows Night arrives in the US in August; she previews songs from that album and offers her opinion of the beloved Australian delicacy Vegemite.

SONGS: Down on Love, All I Want, We Won't Run, No Turning Back

Although her albums and her live shows involve lots of sampled sounds and complex arrangements, this innovative British singer/songwriter can also sit down at a keyboard and strip her music down to the basics. In this session, Imogen chats about her unique bond with her fans, and plays one song from each of her four albums, including her latest, Ellipse.

SONGS: Come Here Boy, Let Go, First Train Home, The Moment I Said It

The brilliant new collaboration between James Mercer of The Shins and uber-producer/half of Gnarls Barkley Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton.) They did things a little differently in this session -- three songs from the new album live in the Lounge, then a few minutes of Q&A in a quiet studio.

SONGS: The High Road, Citizen, The Ghost Inside

A singer/songwriter whose music has gotten lots of exposure in TV and movie soundtracks, Greg squeezed in a Lougne appearance before doing a show at the Tractor Tavern. He ad-libs a brand new YouTube-inspired song, Amazing Horse, and confirms an age-old theory: Bad relationships make good songs.

SONGS: Take Everything, What A Day, Your Ghost, How The Day Sounds

Led by brothers Bear and Bo Rinehart, this band gets tighter and more polished every time they visit. This time they share stories about their early days as sons of a preacher in tiny Possum Kingdom, South Carolina, and Bear talks about his rock vocal heroes.

SONGS: The Outsiders, Hurricane, More Time

The energetic band from Vermont with the charismatic Grace Potter at the helm has fine-tuned its lineup, and now they're about to release a new album in June. Then they'll be back in July as part of Lilith Fair at the Gorge.

SONGS: Medicine, Paris, Tiny Light, Black Hole Sun/White Rabbit