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The Count Basie Orchestra, with Basie on piano, came roaring out of Kansas City during the Great Depression. Unrehearsed and unplugged, soul singer Ledisi shines with the famed Count Basie rhythm section — and, later, with the whole band.

Slowly stepping into the public spotlight after years spent honing their style and sound, the Scottish indie-rockers in Frightened Rabbit make music marked by emotional lyrics, lush instrumentation and catchy melodies.

An honest and seasoned performer, Mayfield has a real knack for poetry and powerful lyrics. At 19, the singer-songwriter already has a wealth of experience behind her. In a video session from Folk Alley, she performs two songs from her debut album.

By the time Vauxhall and I came around in 1994, Morrissey had already wooed the world. His fourth solo effort marked a bit of a return to the jangly Smiths style, but as Morrissey has proved over and over again since then, he just keeps perfecting it.

Composer-commentator Rob Kapilow examines what makes Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" one of the best known — and best loved — pieces in all of music. He says the exuberance is powered by a few deceptively simple techniques.

Composer Erran Baron Cohen's latest CD offers a new take on traditional sounds. He talks about the album — and about collaborating with his brother Sacha Baron Cohen on the movie Borat.

Bolstered by gatherings such as the Smithsonian Institution's "Classical Native" series, American Indian composers are searching for a sound. The result is music in the spirit of their ancestors mixed with techniques from Western classical music.

Jake Shimabukuro is a genre-demolishing artist who plays jazz, blues, funk, classical, bluegrass, folk, flamenco and rock. It's all with the mission of showing everyone that the ukulele is capable of much more than just traditional Hawaiian music. He performs a concert from San Francisco.

Although Julian Koster's choice of musical instrument is unusual, the songs he plays on it are not. Sometimes lonely and sometimes haunting, the songs on The Singing Saw at Christmastime are childlike, comforting, fresh and warm. Hear a session from WXPN.

The Canadian singer-songwriter, who notes that she hails from the setting of Anne of Green Gables, was one of the winners of the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest. Here, she performs songs from her third album, If You Were for Me.