We're brewing up some "Special Blends"

If you enjoy our Marvelous Mix of Music, we think you'll like a new feature we've added. We call it "Special Blend." It's just a cute name for a couple of songs that we think go together well. They might have similar themes in their lyrics, or similar musical styles, or flow nicely from one to the other. The connection might be obvious or subtle.

We'll drop these mini-sets into the mix every now and then - and we'd love to get your comments on them. You can post comments on this page or our Facebook page, or tweet us @BirchStRadio, or email us.

We're brewing up some "Special Blends"

If you enjoy our Marvelous Mix of Music, we think you'll like a new feature we've added. We call it "Special Blend." It's just a cute name for a couple of songs that we think go together well. They might have similar themes in their lyrics, or similar musical styles, or flow nicely from one to the other. The connection might be obvious or subtle.

We'll drop these mini-sets into the mix every now and then - and we'd love to get your comments on them. You can post comments on this page or our Facebook page, or tweet us @BirchStRadio, or email us.

Garbage & other good things added to our playlist

Last year saw the 20th anniversary of Garbage's self-titled debut album. After celebrating with a deluxe re-release of that LP, Shirley Manson, Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker are bringing out their sixth studio album, Strange Little Birds. In announcing its release, Manson said it "has the most to do with the first record than any of the previous records." Indeed, the first single, "Empty," has a very similar sound & feel to the likes of "Only Happy When It Rains." It joins our New Music rotation this week.

If you're a regular listener to Birch Street Radio, you're familiar with Rebecca Pronsky, a Brooklyn native and resident whose music is infused with country and folk influences. She recently toured with Shawn Colvin and has also shared stages with Josh Ritter and Steve Forbert, among many others. Her latest album, "Known Objects," hits on May 6, and we're glad to have an advance copy. We've added several tracks to our playlist, and our featured pick of the moment is "Nothing Yet."

Rachael Sage is also a New York singer-songwriter - and multi-instrumentalist and producer and visual artist whose love of dance inspires her latest album, Choreographic, dropping on May 20. Many of her songs sound like they come from the soundtracks of yet-to-be-made musicals. "Try Try Try," officially the first single, is now in our New Music rotation. We'll add other tracks to our playlist as well - joining songs from her 2014 release, "Blue Roses," which include a duet with Judy Collins covering Neil Young's "Helpless."

Garbage & other good things added to our playlist

Last year saw the 20th anniversary of Garbage's self-titled debut album. After celebrating with a deluxe re-release of that LP, Shirley Manson, Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker are bringing out their sixth studio album, Strange Little Birds. In announcing its release, Manson said it "has the most to do with the first record than any of the previous records." Indeed, the first single, "Empty," has a very similar sound & feel to the likes of "Only Happy When It Rains." It joins our New Music rotation this week.

If you're a regular listener to Birch Street Radio, you're familiar with Rebecca Pronsky, a Brooklyn native and resident whose music is infused with country and folk influences. She recently toured with Shawn Colvin and has also shared stages with Josh Ritter and Steve Forbert, among many others. Her latest album, "Known Objects," hits on May 6, and we're glad to have an advance copy. We've added several tracks to our playlist, and our featured pick of the moment is "Nothing Yet."

Rachael Sage is also a New York singer-songwriter - and multi-instrumentalist and producer and visual artist whose love of dance inspires her latest album, Choreographic, dropping on May 20. Many of her songs sound like they come from the soundtracks of yet-to-be-made musicals. "Try Try Try," officially the first single, is now in our New Music rotation. We'll add other tracks to our playlist as well - joining songs from her 2014 release, "Blue Roses," which include a duet with Judy Collins covering Neil Young's "Helpless."

More fine new music added to our big mix

Some new songs by veteran artists and others by up-and-comers have been added to our Marvelous Music Mix this week.

Eric Clapton will release his 23rd studio album, I Still Do, next month. The album reunites the team of Clapton and veteran producer Glyn Johns, who worked together on Slowhand 40 years ago. (GuitarWorld has a good article about the album.) We're playing the first single, "Can't Let You Do It To Me" -- which is a bit reminiscent of the Slowhand classic "Lay Down Sally."

One of our favorite singer-songwriters, Shawn Colvin, is teaming up with Steve Earle on an album and a series of concerts this summer. The first tune released from Colvin & Earle, "You're Right (I'm Wrong)," has a rough-hewn sound and a sense of simmering tension. Earle told Rolling Stone it's "the darkest piece on the record."

Speaking of dark: "Something dark is coming over me" is the foreboding first line of "Change in Blue" by Hannah Gill & The Hours. There's a touch of Florence Welch in the way Gill -- an 18-year-old out of Easton, Maryland -- throws her powerful voice into her songs with abandon.

Margaret Glaspy

Margaret Glaspy, native Californian and current New Yorker by way of Boston, will release her debut album this summer and meanwhile has put out a couple of tracks on an EP. We've added "You And I," in which she sings of putting an end to a stale relationship. "I don't want to see you cry/but it feels like a matter of time." Ouch.

As you may have noticed, we like to pick up on bands in our home area of New Jersey. The latest to come across our radar is Tall Days, a guitar-and-drums duo with a back-to-basics rock sound that's well represented in "The Wall," our first pick from their EP Back To The Sound.

Tall Days at Mercury Lounge. Photo by David Burlacu