Baaba Maal is one of the most well-known Senegalese singers today. For over three decades, his music has won him fans all over the world. Music reviewer Banning Eyre says his first album in seven years, The Traveller, is different and surprising.
On this week's show: songs of power, protest and passion, including a cut from Shearwater's "angriest" record, and singer Kevin Morby's fervent if exasperated attempt to make sense of police violence.
For decades, the Americana singer has been known for her gritty, gutsy songs. The Ghosts of Highway 20 takes listeners to the American South, a place she associates with her late father.
Johnson was one of the greatest pianists of his time. Critic Kevin Whitehead says the Classic James P. Johnson Sessions (1921-1943) "paints a portrait of a working virtuoso."