Jake Thistle has been chasing songs for as long as he can remember. Well before albums, tours, or national television, there was a three-year-old boy glued to a Super Bowl halftime show, mesmerized not by spectacle, but by the simple power of a guitar and a story. Now 21, Thistle is stepping into a wider frame, appearing on the 2026 season of American Idol while releasing his second full-length record – the latest chapter in a story nearly two decades in the making, now unfolding on the public stage.

The groundwork was laid early: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers set the wheels in motion, sparking a deep love for classic rock music first as a wide-eyed fan, and soon after as a young musician determined to understand how those songs were built. By age nine, Thistle was discovering that spark in himself. Six months after picking up the guitar, he played his first open mic night in New Jersey, a foothold that soon turned into a steady run of showcases, restaurant sets, and street-corner performances where he learned his craft in real time. As the rooms grew, so did his commitment to writing songs of his own – and when the pandemic brought live music to a halt, he turned inward. Taking the downtime as an opportunity to focus, Thistle self-produced and self-released his debut album, Down the Line, in late 2020. The record marked a turning point for his self-image: No longer was he just a young performer cutting his teeth on stage, but a songwriter stepping forward with his own body of work. A radio performance soon caught the ear of industry veteran Joe Riccitelli, who signed Thistle to Gold’n Retriever Entertainment and helped usher in the next phase of his career.

Jasmine Jang is a Chinese-American singer/songwriter based in Queens, NYC. She makes music to tell stories, challenge the way we understand ourselves and the world around us, and build community.

She is the artist of two sister albums: her EP “In Circles Now” (2022) and her full-length album “In Betweens” (2021), both produced with and mixed by Brooklyn-based sound connoisseur and longtime friend, Harper James. Both albums explore the spaces we make room for and the spaces we give ourselves permission to let go of. Her songs have made their way onto Spotify editorial playlists such as Fresh Finds and Fresh Finds: Indie.

Jasmine has been performing in the New York City independent music scene since 2016, her performances described as introspective interweaved with beautiful storytelling as she takes the stage at many illustrious music venues such as City Winery, Rockwood Music Hall, and Bowery Electric. Dedicated to supporting local community spaces and artists, Jasmine is intentional in where and how she chooses to perform.

In 2025, she performed at Think!Chinatown’s ChAFest to celebrate NYC Chinatown’s historic culture, artistic scene, and community. Over the years, Jasmine has performed several times with local organizations Asian American Federation (AAF) and New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) to advocate for issues such as prioritizing emotional wellness within Asian communities and protecting our immigrant New Yorkers. In 2022, she co-produced the series Show Yourself to raise funds for the Stop Asian Hate movement and performed alongside her musical heroes, fellow Asian American singer/songwriters Vienna Teng and Alex Wong.

Jasmine’s lived experience as an independent musician motivates her to continue facilitating meaningful and needed community spaces for all artists. She is the Co-Founder and Programs Director at Keepsake House, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that makes a home for songwriters and storytellers to share the stage and build community, not competition. As an extension of her devotion to shaping more equitable opportunities for both artists and individuals alike, Jasmine is a librarian-in-training and hopes to continue her passion for related work at the public library.

Jasmine’s third album, “Garden Voices,” is set to release in summer 2026. The majority of the recording costs for this album was funded by Jasmine’s incredible and supportive community on Patreon.

Tim Easton is excited to return to Passim to celebrate the release of his latest album, “fIREHORSE,’ available everywhere you stream music. This album was written mostly underneath a painting of a red horse that his Sister Susan Easton Burn painted. The roots are strong with this release. A short history of American music and a well traveled life is inside this album, and Easton has the stories and live show to back it up.

Essex-born folk troubadour Beans on Toast has been charming audiences with his candid songwriting and engaging live performances for nearly two decades. His unique blend of humour, politics, and storytelling has made him a beloved figure in the folk scene. Never one to stay still, he spends most of his life on the road, playing festivals across the globe and packing out venues big and small, building a dedicated fanbase along the way.

Known for his prolific output, he has released a new album every year on his birthday, December 1st, amassing a vast and varied discography that reflects his evolving perspectives and experiences. His songs are a celebration of life and the human spirit—raw, honest, and packed with warmth, wit, and an unshakable sense of hope. His live shows are legendary—an unpredictable mix of storytelling, singalongs, and sincerity, where the line between artist and audience disappears. Whether it’s a heaving festival crowd or an intimate backroom gig, Beans on Toast delivers a show that feels like a wild night with an old friend, keeping his music as relevant and vital as ever.

Laura Veirs returns with Temple Songs, her first album in four years—and the first she has written, recorded, arranged, produced, and performed entirely on her own. “I didn’t know if I would write songs again,” says Veirs, who spent the intervening years building a backyard studio, getting married, blending a family with four teenagers, deepening her visual art practice (painting), and expanding her music teaching. “Turns out that period was a gathering phase. When I made the commitment to recording the album myself, the muse caught me again and it came together very quickly.”

Written and recorded in three months in the fall of 2025 in Veirs’ backyard “Temple of Bloom” studio, Temple Songs marks a new level of artistic independence. While 2022’s Found Light (co-produced by Veirs and Shahzad Ismaily) was a declaration of autonomy, Temple Songs goes further: every creative decision—what to record, how to record it, and how it should sound—was Veirs’ alone. Made with just two mics and a laptop in a 10’ x 14′ room, the album feels unmistakably “Veirs-ian,” yet strikingly new.

Veirs embraced the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi throughout the process, choosing not to pitch-correct vocals or edit out rough edges. “I wanted to make something that sounds as organic and human as possible,” she says. Mixing by Philip Weinrobe (Adrienne Lenker) adds sympathetic finishing touches to Veirs’ 14th solo album.

Because the Temple of Bloom wasn’t built for recording, the studio itself became a collaborator. Veirs paused takes for rain on the skylight—or let it stay. She waited out neighbors’ conversations, raced to finish a sensitive vocal before a stump grinder roared to life, and included the presence of resident bluejays, passing crows, and other neighborhood sounds. These ambient intrusions lend the album an intimate, lived-in authenticity.

Influences range from Mac DeMarco’s commitment to trusting his personal taste to the anarchists and feminists of the late 1800s and their rallying cry, “no gods, no masters.” “It was hard to get the white man off my shoulder,” Veirs says. “I wrestled with a lot of doubt. But there were many happy accidents and eventually I found a flow—seeing the studio again, for the first time since my 20s, as a private place for exploration.”

Clocking in at a concise 30 minutes, Temple Songs’ 11 tracks capture a songwriter in peak form. The album is intimate, dreamy, brave and quietly defiant, built around Veirs’ intricate fingerstyle nylon-string guitar, vulnerable vocals, and bold electric guitar embellishments. “Arc Still Bends” reflects feelings of contemporary futility, offset by a hopeful chorus. “River’s Song,” an ode to one of Veirs’ children, showcases her gift for simplicity and emotional precision. “Pulse” veers into art-experimental territory, culminating in a cacophonous duet between electric guitar and sax. “No Masters” is a sparse, punk rock call for collective self-determination, while “Sunlight and Doom” incorporates elemental fragments from the ancient Greek lyricist Sappho.

Veirs played guitars, bass, drums, tambourine, percussion, and sings vocals; the only outside contribution is saxophone by a secret special guest. She used no click tracks and no electronic instruments, working by feel and intuition while watching bamboo sway outside her studio window. At 52, three decades into her career, Veirs reconnects with herself through a radically new process—one that feels both fresh and profoundly earned. She also designed the album’s calligraphy and paper-collage back cover art, extending the project’s handmade ethos.

“I needed to make this to connect more deeply with my taste, aesthetics, and confidence,” says Veirs. Longtime fans will recognize the core of Laura Veirs here—unfiltered and renewed—and new listeners will discover an artist fully inhabiting her creative powers.