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Jon McLaughlin's new piano-based pop album pays tribute to his native Midwest. On Indiana, McLaughlin candidly charts the ups and downs of the record industry, love, loss and the spirit of middle-America. It's the 24-year-old singer-songwriter's major-label debut.

Songwriter Vic Chesnutt has often been called gifted, but in the past, his introspective, idiosyncratic music has been deemed too gloomy for the masses. On his latest CD, Silver Lake, Chesnutt's songs take an upbeat turn, though his homey narrative style and gallows humor remain. Listen to songs from Silver Lake, and watch Chesnutt's performance in NPR's studio 4A.

Alan Cheuse reviews A Long Way Down, by London writer Nick Hornby, about a unlikely quartet of would-be suicides who find each other on a London rooftop on New Year's Eve.

In the '80s, the Tuareg people of West Africa rebelled against Mali. The struggle has been violent, but one group put down its weapons to combine traditional music with electric guitars. Hear an interview with one of Tinariwen's guitarists and singers.

Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the Waco Brothers' album Waco Express: Live and Kickin' at Schubas Tavern. It's the seventh album from the Chicago cowpunk outfit, but only its first live disc.

The wildly talented Tuareg guitarist returns to his North African roots on his latest album.

Away is a rebuilding-yourself-from-the-ground-up kind of record, and singer-songwriter Will Sheff uses the occasion to take his time and let his songs breathe.

The star of Rent and Wicked is making standards and pop songs her own — with the help of symphonies around the country.

Currently on tour as the opening act for The Who, the retro R&B outfit has experienced a remarkably swift rise since forming just two years ago.

The new album from R&B's resident provocateur is the embodiment of what she has always contended as an artist: that she can't be molded to fit inside one genre.