WFUV's Take Five

From 2010: Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally formed Beach House in 2004, and their third album, 'Teen Dream,' goes along with their established penchant for atmospheric sounds and gracefully haunting lyrics. During a stop at FUV, they performed some live tunes and told host Alisa Ali about how making an album is a lot like shopping for a chair.

From 2012: No one was more excited than host Rita Houston to have the First Lady of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, visit FUV. After Jack White produced Wanda's 2011 album, 'The Party Ain't Over,' she proved just that with her album, 'Unfinished Business' - which was produced by Justin Townes Earle. Get ready to be schooled on rockabilly, country, gospel and more, in Jackson's visit to Studio A.

From 2011: FUV's Alisa Ali talks with Canadian songwriter Dallas Green about his third album as City and Colour - called 'Little Hell' - and its expanded palette of sounds.

From 2012: The Alternate Side's Russ Borris talks with the UK band Alt-J about the making of its full-length debut, 'An Awesome Wave,' and about the challenges of arranging the music. The band also performed live versions of their songs 'Fitzpleasure' and 'Breezeblocks' in WFUV's Studio A.

From FUV's Alisa Ali, 2012: 'The 'story' behind Field Report is that Chris Porterfield used to be in a band called DeYarmond Edison with Justin Vernon (a.k.a. Bon Iver) along with brothers Brad and Phil Cook, and Joe Westerlund, who are currently in the band Megafaun. The guys are all still good friends, and there is no bad blood at all. In fact quite the opposite: Vernon actually invited Porterfield and Field Report to his studio to record their debut album, which for the record (pun intended) is gorgeous. The album is very lyrically driven, which is interesting because Chris didn't start writing lyrics until much later in his music career. He used to consider himself just a 'background player' in DeYarmond Edison. Normally it really is a tragedy when a great band breaks up, but in this case DeYarmond Edison gave rise to three fantastic bands, with Field Report being the last one to form. Hard to say which is best of the three, but easy to see that they are all very talented.'

From 2012: Brendan Benson always has music on the brain and a killer lyric at the ready, and he's enjoyed an interesting and varied career. The co-founder of The Raconteurs (with Jack White) is also a prolific producer and head of his own label, and the release of his solo album, 'What Kind Of World,' brought him to FUV for a chat with host Rita Houston.

From 2012: Songwriter Ben Howard was already a hit in the UK when his debut album, 'Every Kingdom', hit U.S. shores. Said FUV's Alisa Ali: 'I used to favor singer-songwriters over other musicians. These days though, I've been listening to louder music: more bands, more electronic-based. But listening to Ben Howard reminded me of my roots. I love that experimental keyboard-based stuff, but man am I a sucker for a good guitarist. There is just something about watching and listening to a person fingerpick on an acoustic guitar - especially when paired with thoughtful lyrics. It's really the essence of music, isn't it? A guitar and a voice: that's all you need.'

From 2012: Alt-country journeywoman Kelly Hogan has worked with many fantastic artists over the last 20 years, including holding a longtime spot in Neko Case's band. The collaborations continued on her album 'I Like To Keep Myself In Pain,' which features a few star guests as well as songs written especially for Hogan by the likes of Stephin Merritt and M. Ward. Along with gorgeous performances, there's always hilarious conversation when Kelly Hogan is involved, and her Studio A visit with host Claudia Marshall was no exception.

From 2011: Aside from his celebrated songwriting, Joe Henry has earned a reputation for the creative sonic settings of his production work. But on his own album 'Reverie,' it's back to basics, and Henry spoke more about that process during a conversation with host Claudia Marshall at FUV.

From 2012: The Brooklyn trio The Lone Bellow taped its first-ever radio interview at FUV, and it was a great chance to get a taste of their self-titled debut album (which was eventually released in early 2013). Zach, Kanene and Brian create a gospel-rich sound with a hint of Laurel Canyon and some soulful, layered harmonies too.

FUV Live 13 Artist (from 2010): Brooklyn-based Yeasayer said 'yes' to world music on their first record 'All Hour Cymbals,' and on their second full-length, 'Odd Blood,' they gave an affirmative nod to dance pop. One of the performances during the band's interview with host Russ Borris made it onto our CD, FUV Live 13.

FUV Live 15 Artist (from 2012): Find out where the band name Heartless Bastards came from as Erika Wennerstrom and company rock their way through a Studio A session with FUV's Rita Houston, featuring tunes from their album, 'Arrow.'

FUV Live 13 Artist (from 2010): The Heavy have never met a genre they couldn't co-opt. The band's second album, 'The House That Dirt Built,' brought them to Studio A where they spoke with Alisa Ali about re-interpreting Screamin' Jay Hawkins and sampling from low grade horror films, reggae music, and garage rock.

From 2010: Ryan Bingham's voice has been said to sound like 'Steve Earle's dad,' and he used that voice to tell host Claudia Marshall at FUV about an impromptu audition he had with T Bone Burnett. That audition eventually led to his Oscar for the song 'Weary Kind,' which he performed in Studio A along with other songs from his album, 'Junky Star.'

From 2010: After releasing a 17-song rock opera, 'The Hazards Of Love,' The Decemberists wanted to do something shorter, simpler, and quieter. The resulting album, 'The King Is Dead,' brought frontman Colin Meloy to FUV to preview a few songs, and he talked with host Rita Houston about the new direction.

From 2010: During a stateside visit, the Welsh trio The Joy Formidable brought some of their good cheer to FUV's Studio A. They also spoke with host Kara Manning about their parent's record collections and the formidable Welsh indie scene.

From 2010: Guster is American alternative rock band that came out of Boston around the same time that Jonatha Brooke and Dar Williams were first playing open mics, but this group was drawing more from Phish and Widespread Panic than Pete Seeger. Their album 'Easy Wonderful' added some new instrumentation and a poppier feel, and the guys shared those new sounds live in Studio A during a visit with WFUV's Rita Houston.

From 2011: The Apache Relay met in Nashville and quickly hit the road, channeling the sounds of the band's hometown of Motown, and even Springsteen's 'Nebraska.' Hear the sounds of their album 'American Nomad' as host Alisa Ali welcomes the guys to FUV.

From 2010: Frazey Ford made a name for herself as a member of the alt-country folk group The Be Good Tanyas throughout the aughts. Her solo album 'Obadiah' shows off her love of soul music and her family's Texas roots, which she talked about with host Claudia Marshall in FUV's Studio A.

From 2010: Producer Daniel Lanois has worked on some big albums from Emmylou Harris, U2, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Neil Young. His project Black Dub is a folk and funk group he fronts along with Trixie Whitley, and Daniel and Trixie stopped by WFUV to perform a few songs and chat with Rita Houston about the group's live 'dub' technique.