FUV Essentials
So many variables determine what makes an artist or band “essential” — longevity, impact, influence, history. On-air and online, we celebrate the musicians who have shaped our cultural soundtrack for the past fifty years. Let’s love these FUV Essential artists while they’re here, and honor those who have departed too soon.
Soundtracks and Scores
Throwback Thursday: 1994
Joni Mitchell
On Joni Mitchell's 76th birthday — and fresh off of Brandi Carlile's magnificent October concert, recreating Mitchell's 1971 album Blue in its entirety — we're spinning songs from Mitchell's Clouds, Hejira, Ladies of the Canyon and so much more today, steeped in the music of this iconic FUV Essentials artist.
![Joni Mitchell (Original photo: Asylum Records [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons) Joni Mitchell (Original photo: Asylum Records [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)](https://wfuv.org/sites/default/files/ESS-JoniMitchell_1.png)
Joni Mitchell (Original photo: Asylum Records [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
Unplugged
Tom Petty
Had he lived, Tom Petty would have turned 69 on October 20 of this year. As Damn the Torpedoes turns 40 in October 2019 (and Full Moon Fever marked its 30th anniversary this past spring), we're saluting Petty as an FUV Essentials.

Tom Petty (Original photo by Takahiro Kyono from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
Steely Dan
[October 2019 update: The death of Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker

Steely Dan's Donald Fagen and the late Walter Becker (photo by Danny Clinch, PR)
Wilco
For their exploration, chutzpah, honesty, and for their ability to be dark, weird, and happily hooky at the same time, Wilco is and shall remain an FUV Essentials artist. The band's new album, Ode to Joy, is out now.

Wilco (photo by Zoran Orlic, PR)
Sheryl Crow
As an FUV Essentials artist, Sheryl Crow symbolizes not only great pop and rock songwriting, but the genuine power of a true activist.

Sheryl Crow (photo courtesy of the artist, PR)