Tunes for a Monday Morning

This week's tunes are all about love, because we can certainly use more of that these days.

Above, a trio of new songs by Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop, performed for the Tiny Desk Concert series at the NPR offices last month. (NPR is America's publicly-funded radio network.) The songs are "Sailor to Siren," "Know the Wild that Wants You," and "Every Songbird Says," from the duo's beautiful album, Love Letter for Fire. Sam Beam, based in North Carolina, is best know for his three albums under the name Iron & Wine. Jesca Hoop was born in California, now lives in Manchester, England, and has released five solo albums to date. (The animated video that Sam refers to in his intro to the last song, by the way, is here.)

Below, Beam & Hoop perform "One Way to Pray" (my favorite song on the new album) at New York's WKCR radio station.

And last: "Left Handed Kisses" by Andrew Bird, performed with Fiona Apple. Bird, a singer/songwriter from Illinois, cites British folk music as an early influence. He's released nine solo studio albums, plus several live recordings and albums with the bands Squirrel Nut Zippers and Bowl of Fire. This song is from his most recent release, Are You Serious (2016).

���Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."  - William Shakespeare (All's Well That Ends Well)

The painting above is by Florence Susan Harrison (1878-1955). The drawing is by A.W. Bayles (1832-1909). This post is dedicated to Shany, for introducing me to Andrew Bird's music. And to Howard. He knows why.