Guitarist and co-founder of The String Cheese Incident, BillNershi, and wife Jilian Nershi, join together as a duo ofharmonies and driving acoustic guitar,immediately drawingin the listener. An inspired journey through variousstyles and influences, a throwback to the roots of American music, the Nershis have a relaxed way of connecting with the audience through the stories in their songs. Constantly finding ways to make the music sound complete as a duo, unique arrangements and a deep catalogue of original songs highlight the couple’s dedication to their craft.

“Always building up, falling apart. Love is an art,” sings Vanessa Carlton on the title track of her sixth album, Love Is An Art. Like the record itself, the song is a meditation on the eternal seesaw that is human connection: the push, the pull, the balance, the bottoming out. It’s that constantly evolving nature of love, expectations and compassion that Carlton analyzes from all angles on Love Is An Art, from romantic, to parental, to the friends that hold us up and the leaders that repeatedly let us down. And on tracks like the album’s opener, “I Can’t Stay the Same,” that also includes the relationship with the person staring back at us in the mirror, each and every morning.