Blues

Sister Rosetta Tharpe's electric gospel sound was crucial in paving the way for rock and roll, and the late singer and guitarist is finally getting her day at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. She joins this a class of inductees that includes big-name rock bands like Bon Jovi, Dire Straits and The Cars.

Liz Brasher is on the move big time. The raven-haired Memphis singer is currently on tour with Red Wanting Blue and raves are abounding. Brasher brought her band to WMOT Roots Radio on Feb. 28, where we filmed four songs in advance of her new EP Outcast, which is available April 27.

SET LIST

Many artists wait for the day they can stop working as servers and make a full-time living as musicians. Today's guest, Nathaniel Rateliff, is a platinum-selling artist whose generosity onstage makes the music business seem like the service industry. Nathaniel pushes his vocal cords to their very brink, rips open his rib cage to share his heart and leads his seven bandmates with absolute passion – all in service of making sure his audience has a good time and feels something.

Last Wednesday night, Liz Brasher lit up the room with engaging guitar riffs, vocals bursting with otherworldly power and excitement that bubbled off the stage. Each song in this short set further highlighted her arsenal of talents — take the example this throw-down, titled "Outcast."

SET LIST

• "Outcast"

CREDITS

Soul music savant Leon Bridges has announced a new album, Good Thing, and with it, two new tracks.

Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Genre: Americana

Why We're Excited: Collapsing Stars' languid folk songs are punctuated by forceful stabs of bluesy guitar — and, in the case of "The Storm," a few appropriate nature sounds. The effect can be whispery and beautiful, but the band's music maintains a welcome undercurrent of reflection, doubt and even dread.

SXSW Schedule:

• March 15: 18th Over Austin (500 N. Interstate 35 Frontage Rd)

"We're all reaching for something American," Jade Bird sings on the title track off her 2017 EP, Something American. WFUV's Rita Houston sat down with the British singer-songwriter to talk about her debut and musical influences.

"The literal meaning of that is a young girl across the pond looking over?," Houston asks.

You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs? Not a chance. For Valentine's Day this year, we've modeled our love songs playlist after The Magnetic Fields' classic 69 Love Songs, a collection of, well, 69 songs about love songs written by Stephin Merritt.

We do our best to turn our World Cafe studio into bluesman R.L. Boyce's porch at his house in Como, Mississippi. That's where Boyce sits and plays many days in the farming community south of Memphis in the Mississippi Hill country.

With founding member, singer, songwriter and harmonica master Kim Wilson at the helm, The Fabulous Thunderbirds has been creating blues-influenced rock 'n' roll for more than three decades.

Wilson moved from California to Austin, Texas, where he first collaborated with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan. They would start The Fabulous Thunderbirds in 1974, blending their blues influences with a guitar-driven sound that quickly resulted in a record deal.