As both a musician and an activist, Steve Earle has been a voice for people living on the margins. His songs blend folk, country, and rock, and among his many awards are a bunch of Grammys and his recent induction into the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. And yet, many people will be more familiar with Steve Earle’s work as an actor, on screen, on stage, and on TV series like The Wire and Treme. Add in a tumultuous personal life, and you have a guy with stories to tell. Steve Earle’s current tour is called Fifty-One Years of Songs and Stories, and he plays a solo set, including a tune from the show, 'Tender Mercies', in-studio.

Set list: 1. Copperhead Road 2. I Don't Trust Happiness 3. City of Immigrants

The young Mexican singer-songwriter Humbe is no stranger to posting short clips of his songs on TikTok. He feeds on the transparency between his artistic universe and the fans that flock to it like a moth to a flame. His authentic brand of soul, contemporary R&B, and Latin dance music triggers the algorithm time and time again, connecting with audiences across the globe. The latest album, Dueño del Cielo, marks another milestone in his artistic exploration, “looking into the sky when there’s nothing left on the ground”. Filled with religious imagery, voice memos of lived experiences, and dreamy depictions of the chemistry behind human emotions, the album combines Humbe’s candid lyricism with impressively passionate vocal performances.

Humbe’s 2026 tour is ongoing with dates in North America, South America, and Europe. He takes a break from the road to play a stripped-down set with his band at our Manhattan studio. (- Sırma Munyar)

Setlist: 1. Harry Stamper 2. Fantasmas 3. Morfina

Spanish indie folk artist Guitarricadelafuente has come a long way since his days of posting covers on social media. Back then, he wasn’t only inspired by his own culture, but American folk music as well, reinterpreting songs of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. Eventually finding his own vein within the art of storytelling, Guitarrica began drawing inspiration from folklore, viewing it as not a snapshot from the past, but “something that already lives within us”. In his two albums, La Cantera and Spanish Leather, this is the concept he embraces, embodying the curiosity and joy of a kid that lives in a village, discovering the city for the first time.

There is a delicate melancholy in the music of Guitarricadelafuente, but a celebration of love and laughter, too. His lens is an unfiltered one, embracing the reality of unadulterated human emotions and making peace with the poses he strikes daily. Fresh off the NPR Tiny Desk stage, he takes a short break from his first world tour to play a stripped-down set at the Soundcheck studios. (- Sırma Munyar)

Setlist: 1.Poses 2. Mataleón 3. Quién teme a la máquina?

The singer and songwriter Niia has spent much of her career confounding expectations. She’s done smoky versions of old jazz standards as well as original songs that draw on dance music, hip hop and R&B, and live The self-dubbed "goth jazz princess" is something of a provocateur, with her sensual music "living in the tension between control and collapse". Niia and her band play some of the songs from her latest release, V, in-studio.

Set list: 1. Pianos & Great Danes 2. fucking happy 3. Maria in Blue

Singer-songwriter Justin Hicks spent years recording and touring with acclaimed bassist Meshell Ndegeocello, experiencing her genre-agnostic approach to music first-hand. In his debut album, Man Of Style, he is just as hard to pin down stylistically as his long-time collaborator. Yet he manages to fuse a rich array of R&B, soul, rock, jazz, and folk music, dressing his songs in each genre effortlessly. The intricate vocal harmonies and avant-garde textures put Hicks’ stories in an other-worldly realm on the album. But his songwriting skills snap into focus when he performs with a piano and an autoharp live in-studio.

Hicks may follow in the footsteps of great storytellers like Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, and James Taylor, singing his poems with the utmost vulnerability. As a music producer though, he keeps an open mind. The word “style” is not a constraint but a guide to Hicks, as he draws inspiration from life itself. From creating a sonic body scan of his time living in New York to surviving a night of carbon monoxide poisoning, he reveals the multitude of layers in the makeup of his art in this episode of the Soundcheck Podcast. (- Sırma Munyar)

Setlist: 1. Wendy 2. Man of Style 3. Oh!

Composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Emily Wells works in the space between art-pop and neoclassical chamber music using electronic and acoustic instruments: synths, strings, and hip-hop production in elegant layers to support her singular and dramatic vocals. For her 2019 album, This World Is Too _____ For You she expanded her sonic palate to include a string quintet and French horn for a collection of swirling and dramatic chamber-pop showpieces.

Together with the Grammy-nominated chamber orchestra the New York-based Metropolis Ensemble, and drummer Shayna Dunkleman (Xiu Xiu, Peptalk), she performs some of these songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2019.)

Set list: 1. Misconceptions On Forever 2. Stay Up 3. Hymn For The New World

The spiritual and spirited sounds of Qawwali music, the Sufi devotional style from Pakistan, go all the way back to the 13th century. And incredibly, the Saami family of Pakistan has kept that tradition going in an unbroken line for almost 800 years. The Saami Brothers belong to the best known Gharana (a system of connection or “house” in Hindustani music) of Qawwali, the Qawwal Bachon Ka Gharana of Delhi, and are the custodians of the traditions of Qawwali and Khayaal of Hazrat Ameer Khusrau and Ustad Taanrus Khan Sahab, (The Aga Khan Museum). The brothers are well-versed in several genres of classical music, such as dhrupad, khayal, tarana, thumria and dadra which they blend during their performances of qawwal and perform in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Arabic, Hindi, Birj Bhasha, Saraiki and Persian. The Saami Brothers talk about Khayal (a possible translation is “imagination”), which is among the oldest forms of Hindustani vocal improvisation, passed carefully from master to student, generation to generation, (Northwest Asian Weekly). 'Qawwali', Arabic for "utterance", refers to the devotional music of the Sufis, the mystics of the Islamic religion. The term includes both the medium and its performance (Real World). The Saami Brothers perform both Qawwali and Khayaal, in-studio.

Set list: 1. Sufi Dhikr in Raag Bhario'n: Allahu-Allahu 2. Qaul (Qawwali): Man Kunto Maula

Drummer and composer Marcus Gilmore looks to the creative openness of his drum elders – like his grandfather, Roy Haynes, the late tabla master Zakir Hussain, or renaissance man and drummer Milford Graves - and underscores the drum set as melodic instrument – exploiting all of the potential of the components – bending notes, playing with the natural vibrations, or augmenting his set up with Sunhouse Sensory Percussion. (With thanks to Modern Drummer Magazine’s June 2019 issue.) He joins us in-studio to amaze and delight with his percussive sorcery. (From the Archvies, 2019). – Caryn Havlik

Set list: 1. Silhouwav 2. Excerpts of Nube 3. Flashforward