Happy Friday on this crisp, sunny day! If you've been following this feature throughout the past year, you'll have seen a Pony Rug video pop up about every week or two. But this week, I wanted to highlight a whole stack of work from this series, which really seems to have come into its own lately.

The schtick is simple: Minnesotan (and Eau Claire) acts perform in a wood-paneled room while they sit or stand on a rug. Yup, it's one rug in particular — the pony rug of the title. And up close, you can see each artist fingerpicking, tapping their toes, and/or mustering the wherewithal they need to sing lyrics that mean so much. Each performance is usually produced by Michael Gay & Sarah Elstran; filmed and edited by Erik Elstran; and engineered by Justin Muffett at Sovereignty Recording.

Enjoy this bumper crop of intimate performances from Local Current artists.

Nick Jordan, "Shades"

Lena Elizabeth, "Loaded Gun"

Thomas Abban, "Horizons"

Jillian Rae, "Wanderlust"

Idle Empress, "Envy"