When my infatuation with The Felice Brothers peaked a few months back, I came across a precious little project called Black Cab Sessions, for which the brothers performed a haunting true story of a Ruby Mae, a murdered cabaret singer. The song is beautifully heartbreaking to begin with, and the intimacy provided by the close corners of a cab turned makeshift venue, somehow seems strangely appropriate.

The concept of the Black Cab Sessions is the most simplified of formats, "One song. One take. One cab." The project is a Just So Films creation in collaboration with Hidden Fruit, and the goal is to provide a vehicle to promote newly discovered acts. What's neat is that each performance is marked as a chapter, chronologically, and you can literally watch the sessions evolve from a humble and uncertain start in chapter one, to a somewhat established organization at chapter forty-six, which is the present span of their work.

The unique nature of this experiment makes for consistent spontaneity, given the setting. The format itself lacks certainty in it's fundamental elements. For one, the cab drivers don't always seem thrilled by the activities taking place within their ride. Also, in many cases the band has to select which members perform, due to limited space. All sets are acoustic, thus the musicians have to be resourceful and improvise when necessary. Still each performance feels full of energy and possibility. I'm consistently impressed by the wide array of instruments that make their way into the cabs, including fiddles, accordions, casio keyboards, etc.

In addition to the Felice Brothers set, a few other performances really stand out in my opinion. So of course I will share my favorites with you. Here are the Black Cab Sessions of Lykke Li (which Sarah left uncovered in her review of "I'm Good, I'm Gone" acoustic sets), My Morning Jacket, Spoon, and Sunset Rubdown.