Florence + Machine- Never Let Me Go
Sia- Day Too Soon
Ingrid Michaelson- Parachutes (acoustic)
Laura Izibor- Yes (I’ll Be Your Baby)
Rachael Yamagata- Meet Me By the Water
Megan McCormick- Shiver
Beth Hart- Am I the One
Tegan and Sara- Closer

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Breakups suck. If you’re anything like me, sometimes music can help get you through the stages of grief. I realize several of these are pretty mainstream, like Adele, but they just had to be included.

Nothing- Katy McAllister (The Script cover)
Last Love Song- ZZ Ward
Everything I Ever Had- Lindsay Fuller
Lose You- sami.the.great
Once You’ve Loved Somebody- Dixie Chicks
The Last Day of Our Aquaintance- Sinead O’Connor
Jar of Hearts- Christina Perri
Somebody That I Used To Know- Ingrid Michaelson (Gotye cover)
Over You- Miranda Lambert
Someone Like You- Adele

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Kathleen Edwards- Sweet Little Duck
Ingrid Michaelson- End of the World
Jessie Murphy- Last Car on the Train
Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound
Catcall- The World is Ours
Jenny Owen Youngs- Pirates
Kathryn Calder- Who Are You

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Bess Rogers is an in demand multi-instrumentalist who can be found playing with artists such as Jenny Owen Youngs and Ingrid Michaelson, but if you have not heard her music, you are missing out. I’ve been a fan of hers since randomly seeing her play at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City several years ago and I was blown away by her performance. Don’t miss her live if you get the chance.
Bess will be opening for Ingrid Michaelson at Terminal 5 in NYC on May 17th and will be at Hotel Cafe in LA in June. She will also have a video coming out soon for her song “Math and Science”. For more info and tourdates, visit www.bessrogers.com.

What’s the first song you remember hearing?
I don’t think my memory is good enough to answer that question! But if I could take a guess, I’d say it was In My Life by the Beatles. My mom used to sing that song to be as a lullaby and I always loved it. It’s remained one of my favorite songs and now I cover it on the ukulele.

You have played with a lot of great musicians but if you could form a band with any 3 musicians (living or dead), who would they be?
Oh man. I think that a band consisting of Robyn, Kate Bush and Weezer (Blue album or Pinkerton era) would produce some crazy awesome, super weird but insanely catchy music. Or on the other hand, they might all hate each other and make something horrible. But I think it would be worth a shot!

Where do you draw your inspiration from when you write songs?
Everything! There are so many things to be inspired by in this world. Sometimes it’s love, sometimes anger, sometimes evolution, the universe, quantum physics, mortality, The Real Housewives of Orange County, the list goes on and on. We all see the world in our own unique way, and I think the job of a songwriter is to express their individual perspective on life in a way that, hopefully, touches other people’s lives. That’s my goal, at least.

What’s the most embarrassing thing that ever happened on stage?
I’ve definitely forgotten how to play songs, broken strings and had to make small talk with the crowd for 20 minutes, been caught in uncontrollable fits of laughter… But none of that was really that embarrassing. I just always laugh at myself and then that way the audience is laughing with me instead of at me!

You’ve said in the past that you’re fortunate that you figured out early in life what you wanted to do. If you weren’t a musician, what would do?
My dream job, if it wasn’t music, would be to write for a comedy show. Maybe SNL or 30 Rock… something like that. I can’t imagine anything more fun that sitting around a table with a bunch of hilarious people and writing jokes. I’m sure it’s hard work too, but in my dream job fantasy it’s all fun.

Lou Canon- Close To Me (the Cure)
Emily Zea- Nineteen (Tegan and Sara)
Garrison Starr- When You Were Young (The Killers)
First Aid Kit- When I Grow Up (Fever Ray)
Bess Rogers- In My Life (The Beatles)
Ingrid Michaelson- Creep (Radiohead)
Kristin Hersh- Trouble (Cat Stevens)
Karmin- No Scrubs (TLC)

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I love covers and 2011 was a great year for covers. This episode features my favorite covers of the year. I also have posted some videos for some of these. Check those out here. Enjoy!
Adele- Lovesong (original by the Cure)
Ingrid Michaelson- Somebody That I Used to Know (original by Gotye and Kimbra)
Sunday Girl- Where Is My Mind (original by The Pixies)
Wye Oak- Strangers (original by The Kinks)
Birdy- Skinny Love ((original by Bon Iver)
Alyson Greenfield- Gangsta’s Paradise (original by Coolio)
Finding Jupiter- Till the World Ends (original by Britney Spears)
Dum Dum Girls- There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (original by The Smiths)
Karen O and Trent Reznor- Immigrant Song (original by Led Zepplin)

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Somebody That I Used To Know was covered by Ingrid Michaelson as part of her Army of Three project. The original was done by Gotye and Kimbra and is on the top of my favorite songs of 2011. Below is Ingrid’s version and Gotye’s.

I love covers that are by unexpected people or done in an unexpected way. Alyson Greenfield did a cover of Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise using only a glockenspiel.

Finding Jupiter covered Britney Spears using only a ukelele.

The original is a little different.

Florence + the Machine- Lover to Lover
An Horse- Camp Out
Mammut- Bakkus (live on KEXP)
Tune-Yards- Bizness
Sarah Jaffe- Clementine
Ingrid Michaelson- Parachute (acoustic featuring Bess Rogers)
Lissie- Bully
Lykke Li- Get Some

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The annual birthday show!

Concrete Blonde- Happy Birthday
tUnE-yArDs- Bizness
An Horse- Dresses Sharply
Rilo Kiley- Portion For Foxes
Ingrid Michaelson- Parachute (acoustic)
I Blame Coco- Selfmachine (acoustic)
Meghan Tonjes- Pumped Up Kicks (acoustic cover)
Lykke Li- I Know Places
Sarah Jaffe- Clementine
Amy Ray- Out On the Farm
Hank & Cupcakes- Ain’t No Love
Florence + Machine- Heavy In Your Arms
CocknBullKid-Asthma Attack
Ellie Goulding- Starry Eyed
Kitten- Kill the Light
tUnE-yArDs- Gangsta
Mammut- Bakkus
Sleigh Bells- Rill RIll
An Horse- Camp Out
Lykke Li- Get Some

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Ellie Goulding- Lights
Ingrid Michaelson- The Chain
Madi Diaz- Love You Now
Emmy the Great- I Will Always Love You
Heartless Bastards- So Quiet
Gossip- Vertical Rhythm
Florence + The Machine- Drumming
The Ting Tings- That’s Not My Name

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