After months of searching off the beaten path for musical gems, I’ve distilled this 13-song, 52-minute playlist that includes tunes from alternative, singer-songwriter, house, folk, indie pop, and world categories. The order follows the sequence that I would play it if it were on my Fringe Toast radio show. To listen to full free tracks, go to the Spotify playlist under DJ Andy Bargerstock and look for “Fringe Toast Music 2025 Fall Playlist.”
“Devil Chasin’ Me” by Anya Hinkle (CD: Oceania, 2024). Anya lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where I have heard her play multiple times in a trio with award-winning acoustic slide guitarist Billy Cardine and his wife, Mary Lucey, who sings and plays upright bass and banjo. On this song, notice the percussive groove elements and repeated bass lines in the opening. Short R&B syncopated rhythms provide underlying support for Anya’s call-and-response melodic phrases. Get up and dance!
“Undine” by Laura Marling (CD: Once I Was an Eagle, 2013). Inspired by many earlier British folksinger-songwriters, Laura frequently blends rich acoustic guitar work with a distinctive talking-singing style. Enjoy the excellent studio engineering on this track. If you like this song, check out her 2013 tongue-in-cheek track, “When Were You Happy? (And How Long Has That Been).”
“If I Didn’t Know Better (From the Vault)” by the Civil Wars (CD: The Best of Civil Wars, 2025). From 2009–2013, this American duo of Joy Williams and John Paul White charmed the world with their harmonies. Now they’ve collaborated on a tribute album. On this song, notice how Joy treats her vocals as slurred legato lines—she doesn’t overly enunciate lyrics and instead allows the melody and rhythms to drive the musical experience.
“Green Valleys” by the Paper Kites (CD: At the Roadhouse, 2023). This Australian indie rock-folk band, with lead vocals from Sam Bentley, builds a mid- to downtempo groove around two basic exotic chords drenched in reverb and echo. Instrumental color flourishes come and go to enhance the delightfully dreamy ride. This song resonates with “The Sweet Sound of You” from the same CD.
“Everything Matters” by Aurora feat. Pomme (CD: The Gods We Can Touch, 2022). Norway’s Aurora brings an aural treat infused with awe and wonder. Listen for her inventive two-part, upper-register vocal harmonies shaped by subtle piano accompaniment that blends impeccably with her acoustic guitar.
“All Around You” by Watchhouse (CD: Rituals, 2025). Formerly known as Mandarin Orange, this North Carolina husband-and-wife Americana-folk duo consists of Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz. Here they perform a basic two-chord song that seems to possess a new reflective life. The opening bars sound like a step back in time, with lavish yet subtle background harmonies that could have come straight from your old 45-RPM pop records of the late 1950s or early ’60s.
“No Place in Mind” by Justin Nozuka (CD: Run to Waters, 2017). Double-tracked acoustic and electric guitars bring high-register brilliance and lower-register foundation to the intro, quickly followed by descending and plateaued chord patterns. Melodic vocal lines are double-timed in tempo, and seem to counter the groove rhythms of the guitars.
“Just Another Way” by Novo Amor (CD: Collapse List, 2024). On this track, Welsh indie-folk musician Novo Amor beautifully delivers a double-tracked vocal line that is treated with his signature reverb effect in a slow-tempo, shuffle-groove style. The lower vocal line is likely AI generated. (If this doubling were manual, we would hear slight derivations, but here everything is perfectly doubled.) The synchrony is delightful.
“Whisper” by Myles Smith (EP: A Minute, A Moment…, 2024). The 27-year-old English singer offers a splendid inspiring track that extols the power of the engineer’s mixing talents. You might hear an overly dominant lead vocal line in comparison to the weaker, underlying instrumental tracks. But when the uber-joyous chorus comes around, you may find yourself ready to get up and dance.
“Closer (Apiento Remix) (feat. Luna Asteri)” by Cantoma (CD: Closer, 2024). London-based DJ composer-producer Phil Mison performs under the moniker Cantoma. The three-chord intro section with groove percussion gives way to verse sections of two chords, including clarinet interludes that bring instant recognition and attention. Alternating lush vocal harmonies with accompanying guitar lines introduce creative surprises. The engineering is as clean as a whistle and fills all spaces with a brilliant sonic color palette.
“Here We Go” by Deep Dive Corp. and Hush Forever (CD: Hush Forever Meets Deep Dive Corp., 2014). Since 1999, the German duo of Bjorn Gerhard and Peter Musebrink have produced ten albums of ambient electronic and lounge music under the name of Deep Dive Corp. On this album, they collaborate with Swedish singer Hush Forever (a.k.a. Sebastian Lilja). Amorphous obscured rhythms and melodies are delightfully creative along with short repeated phrases that are looped throughout. Hypnotic!
“Until We Meet Again” by Hermanos Gutiérrez (CD: Sonido Cosmico, 2024). The Gutiérrez brothers play instrumental guitar music inspired by soundtracks from Italian spaghetti western movies. Expect beautifully nuanced reverb-heavy guitars with repeated phrasing, as in the unforgiving and vast landscape of the Wild West. And the track is delightfully performed, as usual.
“The Night We Met” by Rising Appalachia (CD: Folk & Anchor, 2024). Asheville, North Carolina, sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith are known for their multi-instrumental diversity and splendid harmonies while they unfold creative turns on Appalachian folk music. This album consists of cover songs that they like. An upright double-bass line opens and sustains this harmony-rich song from the sisters. I’ve got tickets for their September 28 concert in Black Mountain, North Carolina.