NPR’s classical critic Tom Huizenga joins host Robin Hilton for our first spin of the best songs we’re hearing in 2026, including new ones from Big Thief’s Buck Meek, the genre-hopping artist Joji, “fragile hope” from composer Daníel Bjarnason and more.


Featured artists and songs:

1. Buck Meek: “Gasoline,” from ‘The Mirror’

2. Pekka Kuusisto & Sam Amidon: "Way Go, Lily" (Arr. by Nico Muhly / Adapted for orchestra by Bernard Rofe), from ‘Willows’

3. Joji: “Love You Less,” from ‘P*** In The Wind’

4. Joyce DiDonato & Time for Three: “Because I could not stop for Death," from ‘Emily - No Prisoner Be’

5. Jana Horn: “Don’t think,” from ‘Jana Horn’

6. Daniel Bjarnason & The Iceland Symphony Orchestra: “Fragile Hope,” from ‘The Grotesque and the Sublime’


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