Indie 102.3 Sessions

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.

Kyle Craft’s musical story begins in Shreveport, La., where he found inspiration in the swamp music of his home state and the glam rock of David Bowie. Those two genres meet on his debut album, “Dolls Of Highland,” which he recorded in a laundry room. Craft and his band stopped into our studio to perform four songs from the album and speak with Alisha Sweeney about sneaking into the Sub Pop Records office to drop off his demo, the seedy characters on his debut album and his classic rock influences.

Robin Edwards’ music career began in Denver. She played in bands like Lust-Cats of the Gutter and The Matildas, and booked concerts at venues like Rhinoceropolis and Bar Bar. When her earlier groups ended, the singer and guitarist started writing and performing pop-punk music as Lisa Prank — backed only by a drum machine. Edwards now lives in Seattle and often collaborates with bands like Chastity Belt and Tacocat. This year she released “Adult Teen,” her debut album as Lisa Prank. Edwards stopped into our studio to play four songs from the album and talked with OpenAir about her early days in the Denver music scene, what it means to be an “Adult Teen” and her love for the music of They Might Be Giants.

Denver band For Keeps started as a collaboration between co-lead singers Merideth Pryor and Cody Witsken while teaching in China. Now the band is a five-piece that writes fun and light-hearted indie pop. ​Pryor and Witsken — now engaged — and the other three members of For Keeps stopped into the CPR Performance Studio to play some songs from their debut “The People We Let In” as well as some new material. They also spoke with Alisha Sweeney about their self-described “BFF pop,” the influence of fellow Denver bands Dressy Bessy and Apples In Stereo and their upcoming acoustic tour in South America.

Since forming in 2010, Los Angeles band The Americans have become rock ‘n’ roll favorites in their hometown and earned the “Orange County’s Best Rockabilly Band” accolade in 2014. They’ve backed up artists like Nick Cave, Beth Orton and Devendra Banhart and recently toured Colorado with Ryan Bingham. The band has a new album, “I’ll Be Yours,” out this winter. They previewed a few songs from the new record in our studio and spoke with Alisha Sweeney about appearing in the PBS documentary “American Epic” with artists like Beck and Elton John, their love for traditional American music and how they’ve collaborated with a number of notable musicians.