FUV Essentials

As Tori Amos celebrates her birthday on August 22, FUV returns to Torres' list of her "Five Essential Tori Amos Songs."

Musicians listen to their forebears not only with an ear to an artist's technical imprint — the depth of production or the way a guitar is tuned —

From the ornate grandeur of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" to one of the most stirring protest songs ever written, "Ohio," it's hard to imagine a soundtrack of the late Sixties and early Seventies without the songs of David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills and Neil Young. For galvanizing a generation to rise, protest and hope for a better world, CSNY and CSN are FUV Essentials.

One of Jon Batiste's favorite singers and human beings, Mavis Staples, plays New York's AmericanaFest at Lincoln Center on August 11. Batiste is also releasing his first solo album, Hollywood Africans, on September 28.

[August 2018 update: Aloe Blacc has released one of the songs of the summer of 2018, "Brooklyn in the Summer" from his fo

[August 2018 update: Wild Nothing's Jack Tatum is on the brink

[July 2018 update: Kate Bush turns 60 years old on July 30, and on July 14,

[July 2018 update: Brittany Howard is spending a very busy summer on tour with her bandmates of

Since Courtney Barnett first offered up her "Five Essential Bob Dylan Songs" two years ago, she's released a second solo album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, as well as a collaboration with Kurt Vile, 2017's Lotta Sea Lice. Barnett plays a benefit concert for BRIC! Celebrate Brooklyn this Wednesday, July 25, broadcast live on WFUV 90.7FM and streaming live via the website.]

Beck returns to New York with a show at Madison Square Garden on July 19, supporting 2017's Colors, an upbeat kaleidoscope of an album that the #FUVEssentials artist describes as "not retro and not modern."