Daniel Mescher

Since visiting the CPR Performance Studio in April 2015, the Denver band Edison has expanded to a three-piece, signed to a new record label and toured the U.S. Some locations on their journeys — the Arizona desert, the Chesapeake Bay and the Colorado mountains — inspired their debut album “Familiar Spirit,” which came out last week. Edison returned to CPR’s OpenAir last month to perform three songs off the new album. They also spoke with Alisha Sweeney about the band’s expansion, their decision to sign with Rhyme & Reason Records and why a camera crew has been following the band all summer.

The Seattle electronic duo launched the Foreign Family label to promote and mentor their favorite undiscovered artists.

Low Cut Connie can count one very notable fan among their followers: President Barack Obama. The Philadelphia band’s song “Boozophilia” appeared on one of his Spotify playlists for summer 2015. That selection led to a face-to-face meeting with President Obama last year. Frontman Adam Weiner described the surprising experience to Alisha Sweeney during the band’s performance in our CPR Performance Studio last month. Low Cut Connie’s latest album is “Hi Honey.” The band performed a song from that album as well as a new song before a show at Denver’s Hi-Dive.

River Whyless came to CPR’s OpenAir highly recommended by WNCW in the band’s home state of North Carolina. The four-piece out of Asheville, N.C., recently released their second album, “We All The Light,” after a performance at this year’s Newport Folk Festival. The band played three songs from the new album in our CPR Performance Studio before a show at Denver’s Ogden Theatre. They also spoke with Scott Carney about forming at Appalachian State University, performing at NPR for a Tiny Desk Concert and how their music has become more personal with the new record.

Denver band Paper Bird returned this week to the CPR Performance Studio. We first hosted the band’s retooled lineup — with new member Carleigh Atkins, who replaced singer-songwriter Esme Patterson — back in 2014, and today the band releases its new self-titled album. Paper Bird recorded the LP in Nashville with producer John Oates of Hall & Oates. It finds the band moving away from folk and into rock ‘n’ roll. The band played four songs from the album and spoke with Alisha Sweeney about how a personnel change affected the band’s sound, releasing their music through a record label for the first time and why this new album feels like a fresh start.

Lillian Soderman — who performs simply as Lillian — has a lot of musical friends in Colorado. That’s a big reason she moved back to the Centennial state from California to record her new EP, “Desert Song.” The release features members of Denver bands Inner Oceans and Paper Bird, but it’s Soderman who is front and center on its five songs. The music features sparse folk arrangements that allow her breezy vocals to shine but often move into dream-rock crescendos. Lillian stopped into the CPR Performance Studio before her show tonight at Larimer Lounge. She performed three songs from the EP with her band and spoke with Jeremy Petersen about recording at Denver’s Mammoth Cave Studio, how her sound has changed over the past five years and her time working as a counselor for homeless youth.