Here is a list of artists who have been featured for their free and legal MP3s at least three times to date on Fingertips, dating back to 2003.
To be featured three times here strikes me as significant. Almost any artist I feature can randomly end up releasing one more song I like a lot and therefore be featured twice. But I think there’s a line drawn after two times that becomes indicative of a band or musician consistently making the kind of quality music that I have been searching for on Fingertips for more than 15 years at this point.
Note that the distinction of being featured multiple times here has grown more significant since the song reviews went from weekly to monthly back in 2014. Artists had an easier time being featured repeatedly way back when.
Some of these “most featured” artists became pretty well-known in 21st-century indie rock circles (Iron and Wine, Wye Oak, Amanda Palmer), others less so (The Spectacular Fantastic, anybody?). Some I would clearly identify as among my favorite artists (Laura Veirs, Over the Rhine, and the current all-time features leader John Vanderslice), while others kind of surprised me by their presence on the list (I did not for instance expect to see Portugal.The Man and their unexpected period).
I especially appreciate those who have been featured not just in a short stretch of time but who have had staying power over the years. The current “winner” in terms of having posts on Fingertips spanning the longest amount of time is the venerable lo-fi power-pop outfit The Spectacular Fantastic, who first appeared here in June 2005 and then most recently in January 2025 (19 years, seven months). (Bonus points: that first MP3 from June 2005 is still available!) Next in terms of longest spread is left-of-center indie rock project Soltero, fronted by Tim Howard, featured first in September 2004 and most recently in October 2023 (19 years, one month). One last long notable entry in this category is the stalwart Lancaster, Pennsylvania trio The Innocence Mission, featured initially in November 2003 and most recently in January 2020 (16 years, two months).
Anyway, for the select few who might find this both interesting and helpful (perhaps a good way to check out some folks you haven’t yet listened to), here’s the list, in alphabetical order. After each name is the number of times featured to date, and then the month and year of the most recent feature. Artists featured more than four times I’ve put in bold, just for the heck of it.
To keep this from being too time-consuming a project, I do not offer any links on this list. Those interested are encouraged to visit the Artist Index; all the links you need are there. Apologies in advance for any links that are dead—I’m still working on cleaning that up. Talk about a time-consuming project!
Ages and Ages – 3 – Jan 18
Annuals – 4 – Mar 10
Asobi Seksu – 3 – Dec 10
Nicole Atkins – 3 – Oct 10
Bettie Serveert – 3 – Mar 10
Bishop Allen – 3 – Mar 09
Blonde Redhead – 3 – June 10
British Sea Power – 3 – Dec 10
Isobel Campbell – 3 – Sep 06
CocoRosie – 4 – Jan 25
Brandon De La Cruz – 4 – Sep 23
The Decemberists – 3 – Mar 05
Eux Autres – 3 – Mar 12
Francis and the Lights – 3 – May 13
Lisa Germano – 3 – Jan 13
Steve Goldberg & the Arch Enemies – 3 – Aug 11
Heartless Bastards – 3 – Dec 11
Jesca Hoop – 3 – Jan 17
Innocence Mission – 4 – Jan 20
Iron and Wine – 3 – Jan 18
The Ladybug Transistor – 3 – Mar 11
Land of Talk – 5 – Aug 20
Low – 3 – Mar 13
Matt Pond PA/Matt Pond – 6 – Aug 13
Cass McCombs – 3 – Nov 11
Midlake – 3 – Feb 10
Kate Miller-Heidke – 4 – Jun 12
The Minor Leagues – 3 – Aug 11
Juana Molina – 4 – Aug 17
The Morning Benders – 3 – Feb 10
Bob Mould – 3 – Jan 19
Múm – 3 – Oct 09
My Brightest Diamond – 3 – Nov 08
The Mynabirds – 4 – Dec 17
Marissa Nadler – 4 – Mar 11
Okkervil River – 5 – May 11
Over the Rhine – 6 – Jan 11
Amanda Palmer – 3 – Jan 19
Portugal. The Man – 3 – Jun 09
Pure Bathing Culture – 3 – Jul 19
The Raveonettes – 4 – Jun 12
Sambassadeur – 3 – Jun 10
School of Seven Bells – 3 – Dec 12
Shearwater – 4 – Feb 12
The Shins – 3 – Nov 06
Soltero – 5 – Oct 23
The Spectacular Fantastic – 4 – Jan 25
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – 3 – Jan 04
13ghosts – 3 – Oct 11
John Vanderslice – 7 – Sep 10
The Veils – 3- Mar 13
Laura Veirs – 4 – May 18
Daisy Victoria – 3 – Aug 16
Wheat – 3 – Dec 11
Work Drugs – 3 – Oct 17
Wye Oak – 5 – Mar 20
Yo La Tengo – 5 – Jan 13
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