The renovations are underway for St. Paul's Palace Theater, and to help kick-off the St. Paul "Sounds Perfect" year in music celebration, we invited Jeremy Messersmith to test out the acoustics.

Martin Courtney's new album, 'Many Moons,' came about through collaboration but was dubbed a solo project for lack of a better band name. 'It's definitely a group effort,' Courtney says, 'but it's really hard to come up with a good band name.' Courtney has no trouble writing good songs, though; listen to some of them in this session hosted by Bill DeVille.

Anticipating the release of their third album United Crushers on March 4, Polica stopped by The Current to perform live in-studio and to chat with host Andrea Swensson of The Local Show.

Discovered and championed by Stevie Wonder after busking outside a California strip mall, Andra Day now has an album produced by Raphael Saadiq (among others), a music video directed by Spike Lee, and two Grammy nominations. 'It's pretty incredible the way it came about,' Day says. While visiting the Twin Cities, Day stopped at The Curent to perform a couple songs and to chat with Brian Oake.

Singer-songwriter Lissie says she was very lucky to have had the support of a major label earlier in her career. But her next album, 'My Wild West' (due out on Feb. 12), Lissie took financial and creative control. 'It freed me up,' she says. 'I own my own music, which is great!' Lissie stopped in to The Current studio to chat with Sean McPherson and Jade, and to play some songs off her forthcoming album.

On the suggestion of their booking manager, Sonny Knight and the Lakers have been collaborating on some shows with Jabo Starks and Fred Wesley, the drummer and trombone player, respectively, from James Brown's band. 'James Brown has always been an inspiration to me,' Knight says. 'And these guys lay down the funk so well, it just makes it right.' The entire ensemble visited The Current for an in-studio session hosted by Bill DeVille.

Lizzo's new album, 'Big GRRRL Small World,' released Friday, Dec. 11. 'It's so cool to hear people say the album name, because I've just been waiting to put this out for so long,' Lizzo says. 'It's happening!' Lizzo visited The Current's studio to perform some songs from the album and to chat with host Jade.

Following the release of their debut full-length Use Your Time Wisely, Strange Names stopped by The Current to perform live in-studio and to chat with host Andrea Swensson of The Local Show.

Following the release of their album Insane World, Mixed Blood Majority's Crescent Moon, Lazerbeak and Joe Horton stopped by The Current to perform live in-studio and to chat with host Andrea Swensson of The Local Show.

The Current hosted an exclusive happy-hour concert with Ben Folds at the Turf Club in St. Paul, Minn., back in November. Ben played some older songs as well as songs from his new album, 'So There.' Listen to the songs and watch video from the performance.