Margo Cilker — “Tehachapi”

Margo Cilker is a talented singer-songwriter out of Enterprise, Oregon. “Tehachapi” is a single she’s been sitting on for a while but recently recorded with the help of production from producer and musician Sera Cahoone for her debut record “Pohorylle.” “In my live shows it’s the ace up my sleeve, the song I’m careful not to play too early in the set,” Cilker says of the crowd favorite. The recorded version exudes spirit and fun with its country style, cadence and rhythm mashed together with a big band sound.

Courtney Barnett — “Rae Street”

Courtney Barnett recently announced that her third studio album, “Things Take Time, Take Time,” will be out on Nov. 12. That proclamation was joined by a single called “Rae Street”. While she’s dropped a pair of live albums lately, this is her first new material since 2019 standalone track “Everybody Here Hates You.” The Aussie songwriter’s talent truly shines on “Rae Street” as she takes an exquisitely simple country-inspired guitar strut and mesmerizes with a string of memorable lyrics. “One day I made a list of all the phrases that I could remember my parents saying,” she says about the vocal construction of the song.

Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine — “Reach Out”

“Reach Out” comes from the duo of Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine whose new album, “A Beginner’s Mind,” comes out on Sept. 24. The song is loosely based on the 1987 German fantasy-meets-romance film “Wings of Desire,” where angels listen to the thoughts of Berliners. The performance is powered by a delicate acoustic guitar that’s accompanied by powerful harmonies that harken back to the classic male folk pop groups of the late 60s and early 70s.