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The facile finger-picker can apply his stamp to ragged blues plaints and folky instrumentals alike. It's no surprise that the indie-rock group Band of Horses asked Ramsey to come along on tour — as both its opening act and as its new guitarist.

After members of the San Diego emo band Noise Ratchet went their separate ways, the group's co-founders decided to take on roots music. Mixing blues, country, and roots-rock in its theatrical performances, Delta Spirit has made a name for itself in a hurry.

Coming up along with a slew of British singers who look back to classic '60s girl groups, Adele stands out with a big, bluesy voice. At just 20, she sounds wise beyond her years, writing songs of heartbreak and loneliness. Here, Adele performs songs from her debut CD, 19, with just a guitarist for accompaniment.

The Movie, the debut album from New York-based band Clare & the Reasons, is quirky, to say the least. The record is an 11-track foray into theatrical, space-themed chamber pop that falls somewhere between the score of a Broadway musical and a collection of sweet and playful nursery rhymes.

Fela Kuti fathered the musical movement Afrobeat and its crown prince, 25-year-old Seun Kuti. The Nigerian singer is leading his father's band, Egypt 80. On his self-titled debut album, he's added some American influences but kept his songs sharply pointed and political.

Singer-songwriter Teitur Lassen originates from the Faroe Islands (which translates to Sheep Islands), a remote spot of land between Iceland and Norway. On his third album, The Singer, Teitur's arrangements are quiet and sparse, but he sings with such confidence and fervor that the effect is, at times, gripping. "Guilt By Association," for example, tells a story about an accidental murder, with thrilling lines like, "Run away, they are coming to get us now." These minor-key dirges are clearly his signature, but some of the more immediately accessible and uplifting moments come when he loosens up.

Once the frontwoman for a punk trio, the singer-songwriter taps into the vein of fellow Canadians Bruce Cockburn and Joni Mitchell. Hear Miller perform a set of lush tunes inspired by her Prince Edward Island upbringing.

The debut, self-titled album from Oklahoma City-based band The Uglysuit is refreshingly bright and cheery, replete with huge spirit-raising piano and guitar anthems. With a blend of spacey dream pop and a few alt-country flavors (lead singer Israel Hindman's voice mimicks Jeff Tweedy one minute, Conor Oberst the next), the group's sound draws comparisons to the Flaming Lips and the Shins, but the grandiosity of the music is that of space rock proportions.

Fleet Foxes' members join host David Dye for the latest in World Cafe's Lillywhite Sessions series from Avatar Recording Studios in New York City. The quintet draws from the baroque psychedelic pop of the '60s, sacred harp singing, gospel and folk music.

For the first time in her 20-year career, singer-songwriter Sam Phillips goes it alone on the curiously titled Don't Do Anything. Phillips performs songs from her album with violinist and guitarist Erik Gorfain in a session on World Cafe.