Stephen Kallao

If Yola's debut album, Walk Through Fire, was about surviving the struggle and overcoming the odds, then her new album, Stand For Myself, is about not being afraid to burn it all down, taking names along the way.

In this episode, we're talking about the "sophomore slump" — or rather, the lack of one.

That case could easily be made for Nirvana, whose first album Bleach would pale in comparison to its follow-up, Nevermind. It sold over 30 million copies, made grunge a household name and turned Kurt Cobain into the planet's biggest rock star.

John Hiatt is one of America's songwriting treasures. His work has been covered by dozens of artists over the years, including Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt. Hiatt's 22nd studio album finds him teaming with another legendary musician, Jerry Douglas.

Here at World Cafe, where music discovery is buried deep in our musical DNA, we play a lot of new music. As we look at the current musical landscape — through streaming services and public radio stations alike — we've noticed that music discovery is increasingly becoming genre-less. The best sounds from Americana, R&B, indie rock, classic rock, alt-rock (whatever that actually means anymore), hip-hop and singer-songwriters all have one thing in common: that regardless of the genre, the passion for music is driven by our love of discovery and our curiosity.

Motherless Brooklyn is a new film about a private detective trying to solve a murder in 1950s New York.

Today's show features a true renaissance man: Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson. He's the co-founder of the iconic hip-hop band The Roots, the bandleader for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and is an author five times over. His latest book is called Mixtape Potluck.

Cedric Burnside is a drummer, guitarist, singer and performer. You can hear all of those elements come together on Benton County Relic, his latest album. He grew up in Benton County in rural Mississippi where he was raised by his grandfather, the late bluesman, R.L. Burnside.