Jedd Beaudoin

Tommy Emmanuel is known not only for his mastery of the acoustic guitar but also for his showmanship. Guitar aficionados will get their fix of cool runs and hot licks at one of his shows but he also connects with non-musicians in the audience in a rare fashion. This is a skill that was passed down to him he says from his early musical mentor Chet Atkins.

Wednesday, July 16: We’ll hear from Jackson Browne’s 1973 album For Everyman, a record featuring appearances from Bonnie Raitt, Elton John, Joni Mitchell and David Crosby. It also marks the first collaboration between Browne and multi-instrumentalist David Lindley. The two have collaborated off and on since 1973, including on the live album Love Is Strange, which we’ll also hear from.

Formed in Philadelphia in 2007 Cheers Elephant quickly established itself as a band with an ear open to the past. As guitarist and vocalist Jordan del Rosario recalls, he and his three bandmates found common ground in music made before any of them were born, including The Beatles.

“We really liked that British sound" he says. "But even more so than The Beatles, The Kinks and the Rolling Stones. The psychedelic era of all those bands really sparked the way.”

Noah Hamilton has just released the record Liberation under the name Oceanarms.

My name is Noah Hamilton. I am in a solo one-man band called Oceanarms and an acoustic group called The Living Tree.

About two years ago I decided that I wanted to pace out an album that I wanted to release. I started up a SoundCloud account and I trickled—about every month—some songs out. Then it hit me, kind of all at once, that the album was done. I had about 17 or so songs that were complete.

Tuesday, July 8: Listen for selections from John Hiatt’s 2000 album Crossing Muddy Waters. Hiatt focused on acoustic instruments on this recording, emerging with an album that was raw and emotionally charged, featuring songs about struggles with grief, family, and filled with his usual blend of humor and careful observation. The record was nominated for a 2001 Grammy for Best Folk Album and remains a favorite among Hiatt fans. We’ll also hear selections from 1861, the 2008 release from Kansas trio Moreland & Arbuckle.

Since the start of his recording career more than 30 years ago pianist Fred Hersch has earned a reputation as one of the most exciting voices on the instrument, a performer who frequently straddles the line between jazz and classical with uncommon ease. It might also help that Hersch’s chosen instrument has an impressive body of work that has followed it through the centuries.

Tuesday, July 1: We celebrate Canada Day with a sampling of acts from the Great White North, including The Tragically Hip, Crash Test Dummies, Bruce Cockburn and the band Max Webster.

Wednesday, July 2: We celebrate the life and music of soul legend Bobby Womack, with samples of his work from his early days in the gospel-infused act The Womack Brothers to his final solo album, The Bravest Man In The Universe, which was co-produced by Damon Albarn of the Britpop band Blur. Womack died on June 27 of still undisclosed causes. He was 70.

Maria Elena has performed in a wide range of musical settings from the punk rock music of The Horror! to her current folk/jazz-driven duo El Cuco to The Great Plains.

“My name is Maria Elena. I play the guitar. I’m a singer-songwriter even though I don’t really love that term. But there’s really no better way to explain it for people to understand it.

Everette DeVan releases his new album For The Love of You this weekend with two area shows—one in his home base of Kansas City and another here in Wichita. The record marks the first recording on the new Wichita-based label Henry Records. DeVan says that it was label founder Tim Henry who approached him about making the album.

“He said, ‘I’d like to do a CD.’ He said, ‘All I want you to do is go in there and play the organ the way that I know you know how to play it. And I don’t want any singin’ on it.’ I just gave him what he asked for,” DeVan says.

When Graham Colton began writing songs for the follow-up to his 2011 album Pacific Coast Eyes he soon realized that he wasn’t happy with his creative process.

“I just picked up the guitar and started to do what I always do and it wasn’t very exciting to me. It felt like I was playing the guitar the same old way and singing in the same spots and the same things were kind of happening and it just didn’t inspire me.”