Featured Album

WXPN Radio

The premier guide for new and significant artists in rock, blues, and folk - including NPR-syndicated World Cafe ®

Listen Xpo

24/7 Musical discovery. A unique mix of emerging and heritage blues, rock, world, folk, and alt-country artists.

Singer Songwriter Radio

Featuring classics from heritage troubadours to new musicians and bands in the singer-songwriter tradition.

Folk Radio

Folk music radio streaming on the web; Americana, Roots Music, recordings, and stories from folk's best.
Listen Live

Various Artists - Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs Of John Prine - Oh Boy Records

A superstar cast of indie-artists that range from Josh Ritter to Drive-By Truckers come together to pay homage to one of the great country/folk songwriters on a new tribute album. Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine is, for the most part, a younger cast of admirers taking a deep look at the songbook of John Prine.

Often when it comes to these types of tribute records it's easy to tell whether or not the artists recruited to participate are truly fans of the honoree. On this compilation, the twelve artists choose songs spanning from nine different John Prine albums. The album features a few of his better-known songs like "Angel From Montgomery" as done by Old Crow Medicine Show or "Spanish Pipedream" taken on by The Avett Brothers, but a nice portion of the record highlights some less familiar, equally as deserving numbers. Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, who in addition to an insightful written introduction on the sleeve of actual album, contributes a haunting version of Prine's "Bruised Orange (Chain Of Sorrow)" that serves as the album opener.

Other standout performances come from My Morning Jacket who tackle "All The Best" and Those Darlins, an all female cow-punk trio, who reinvent "Let's Talk Dirty In Hawaiian". Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs Of John Prine is actually being released on Prine's own record label, Oh Boy Records, which would point to the thought that the man himself approves (and that's never a bad thing). Ultimately what this new compilation succeeds at is celebrating these beautiful songs and assuring that the work of John Prine is enjoyed by a wider audience.

CD of the Month Club

Every month, the station's soothsayers and tastemakers select what they consider to be the best of the new. As a CDOM Club member, you'll receive all twelve of the CD of the Month selections during the year along with all of our special XPN releases -- including Live at the World Cafe CDs and XPN New Music Samplers. That's at least 16 CDs total!

Join the CD of the Month Club today by becoming a member online using our secure Member Form.

Help Support WXPN

A conversation with The Thermals’ Kathy Foster about bass, Rocky and their first decade as a band (playing Union Transfer...

This spring, Portland indie-punk trio The Thermals turned ten and released an album that’s got all the fuzzy scuzzy energy and...Read More

Download Major Lazer’s remix of “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (playing Roots Picnic on Saturday, June...

Below, download a Major Lazer remix of “Can’t Hold Us,” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. It’s an unstoppable...Read More

Watch James Blake live in concert via NPR Music (playing Union Transfer in November)

Photo by Chris Sikich | countfeed.tumblr.com While watching a video of James Blake concert in no way will ever compare to the...Read More

Tonight’s Concert Picks: Arrah and the Ferns at PhilaMOCA, White Laces at Kung Fu Necktie, Dani Mari at Philadelphia Folk Festival...

Arrah and the Ferns play PhilaMOCA tonight.  The concert will act as both the band’s album release show for Make Your Mind as...Read More

Watch The Roots mural be unveiled next Friday in South Philly

The Legendary Roots Crew will be on hand in full force (and that’s a lot of people) next Friday the 31st of May when...Read More