NPR became the latest national media outlet to check out Baltimore’s cultural cache. While John Oliver and USA Today came for the food, public radio’s World Cafe stayed around for the music.
While the show led off with Future Islands, WTMD’s Sam Sessa was a guest for the show’s Sense of Place segment, which spotlights some of the country’s prime local music scenes. Skipping over recent NPR favorites like Beach House and Wye Oak, Sessa selected a playlist featuring five local bands that are less well-known to the show’s national listeners. Americana acts like The Herd of Main Street and George Cessna join the pop-minded Super-City and Sun Club on the genre-hopping sampler.
“There’s a lot of encouragement in this city,” Sessa tells host David Dye. “I think we’re a very earnest music scene. And you can hear that in some of the energy in some of these songs.”
The playlist is available over at World Cafe’s online home. You can also download the full segment, which clocks in at a drive-home-friendly 20 minutes.
UPDATE: Here’s another playlist from the episode. This one is full of old Baltimore music favorites like Divine, Mama Cass and the Royalettes.
