Jacob Detering wears a lot of different hats. His musical and technical skills allow him to fit into whatever role is necessary as he works to help artists create, complete and distribute their albums.

From the Funky Butt horns to the Brothers Lazaroff, Melody Den weaves together veteran St. Louis musicians and other local heroes in a genre-crossing, collaborative effort called "Storylines."

In June Amanda Palmer raised over a million bucks via Kickstarter from fans wanting to help make her new album possible. Four months later, when she invited professional musicians to play in her shows without pay, she kicked off the Great Kickstarter Backlash of '12.

The musicians of St. Louis don't just love performing; they love seeing others perform. And the year 2012 offered hundreds of opportunities to do just that.

They're writing great songs, releasing albums and playing shows all the time. 2012 brought some fantastic releases from local St. Louis artists -- some brand new to the scene and others sounding better than ever.

Brothers Lazaroff performed at the July 28 edition of Harvest Sessions.

Fans of Woody Guthrie gathered all around the world on July 14, 2012 to celebrate his legacy. St. Louis proved it has "one big soul," standing tall among the global events as surely one of the best.

On Saturday night St. Louisians turned out en mass to pay tribute to the legendary American singer and songwriter Woody Guthrie.

Brothers Lazaroff brought their serene blend of roots and Americana to Off Broadway to open for Kentucky Knife Fight.

It's been a big spring for Brothers Lazaroff. They stormed South by Southwest, armed with genre-bending remixes of Austin pal Elizabeth McQueen's retro jazz before returning to St. Louis to release their new album, "Science Won."