@michael kuchan

The tracks you can’t get enough of lately, all in one place.

Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

A born-and-bred nature boy whose gentle grooves and birdsong melodies belie his fierce dedication to making the world a better place, Brett Dennen is the missing link between ’70s-era folk-poet activists and the early-’00s singer/songwriters who infused strummy tunes with worldbeat influences. His 2004 debut introduced a laidback troubadour with a breezy lilt informed by his California roots. Since then, he’s expanded his palette, integrating funk, reggae, Afrobeat, and Americana sounds—and a clear sense of environmental and social justice—into his crystalline acoustic pop gems.

Muddy Waters is Chicago blues. When he came up from Mississippi in the ‘40s, he brought the Delta blues with him and electrified it both literally and figuratively, adding the industrial vibe of the Windy City to come up with searing stompers like “(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man” and “Mannish Boy.” Muddy could sound like sadness personified (the moody, mournful “I Feel Like Going Home”) or come off like a fire-breathing force of nature (the rowdy “I'm Ready”), but whichever way he worked his mojo, he was the undeniable king of the Chicago sound.