by Melanie Walker, Music Director

It's hard to believe that it's almost been six years now of recording some of our favorite bands and songwriters here in The Current studios. We've had hundreds of bands come in over the last several years, but this past year has got to have been the best thus far. I'm very proud of this new edition to our Live Current library, as it's the best representation of The Current so far.

We have more local music featured on this CD than in years past. It's got tracks from Twin Cities talents such as hometown hero Brother Ali, our newest local sensations Peter Wolf Crier, Mason Jennings, hometown sweetheart Dessa and a songwriter who we've championed for most of The Current's existence, Jeremy Messersmith. This line up of local music is a perfect example of the diverse and thriving music scene we have here in the Twin Cities. We've been extremely committed to keeping our cultural community strong. We believe that all great trends start locally, and we always want to be available as a foundation for those great trends to be built upon.

Live Current Volume 6 also features a number of new bands that have had huge debuts here in the Twin Cities, such as Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, The Heavy, Free Energy, The Rural Alberta Advantage and Local Natives. Here at The Current, we've made a great effort to be supportive of music that we not only love but that we believe in as well. We're thrilled that all of these bands have not only become favorites of our listeners but have also had a lot of success nationally as well.

This album also showcases some artists that have become staples to our musical playlist here at The Current, such as Spoon, Bat For Lashes, David Bazan and She and Him. All of these bands were once new to the music scene, but they have now become part of the musical fabric of future decades.

There are some professional dreams that I'll admit I hope to accomplish one day. It would be a dream come true to have David Bowie visit us, or for Stevie Wonder to sit at our grand piano, or even have our hometown legend Prince play a few licks in our studios. We did have the amazing opportunity to host interviews with some musical legends this past year, as Brian Eno, Booker T Jones and even David Byrne all dropped by to chat with our hosts. It was also our honor and pleasure this year to host sessions with greats like Sonic Youth, Moby and local favorites The Jayhawks.

The Live Current series is more than just a bunch of CDs to us here at The Current. It's basically our way of memorializing the best of each year past. So you could call Live Current Volume 6 a sonic time capsule of sorts. 30 years from now, it'll be a great reminder of all the hard work and amazing music we witnessed and experienced in 2010. None of it would've been possible with out the support of our listeners and our members. So, thank you Current listeners for helping to make every year for the station a huge success!