The guitar will never die. And I, for one, take great comfort in that fact that I can neither confirm nor prove, just know in my heart. On the last episode of NPR's All Songs Considered for 2025, I take host Robin Hilton through an exceptional year in guitar music. From Gwenifer Raymond's beautiful and brash fingerstyle to Rafael Toral's stretched-out jazz standards, not to mention William Tyler's glitched hymns and Vernon Reid's ecstatic shred, there's so much diversity to be found in six strings. 

Here is the expanded mixtape, featuring fingerstylists, power trios, experimentalists and shredders. Just click on an album cover to start the music. 

Image sourced from the Public Domain Image Archive / Internet Archive / New York Public Library