Songwriter and singer Joan Shelley prefers to make music in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky rather than the industry centers of Nashville and New York City. She’s recorded a series of well-crafted contemplative albums with guitarist Nathan Salsburg at home in Louisville, at Jeff Tweedy’s Loft in Chicago, and even in Iceland. You’ll find references to rivers, waterways, and oceans in her songs and albums. We began asking her what the Ohio River means to her.

This week we remember the late Raul Malo, who passed away on December 8, 2025. Raul Malo was born in Miami to Cuban parents. In 1989, he started The Mavericks. Named for going against the grain, the Mavericks began in the punk and alternative scene and eventually found great success in country music, incorporating Latin, rockabilly, and pop sounds. By 2000, the group parted ways and Raul Malo pursued a solo career in LA. He joined Los Super Seven with Joe Ely, Freddy Fender, members of Los Lobos, Max Baca, Doug Sahm, and others. In 2012, Malo reunited with the Mavericks, releasing several albums and touring widely. In 2020, they released En Español, an album entirely in Spanish. Making a record like this took Raul many years of listening within and outside his family.

Christmas has come early for fans of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, as organizers released the lineup for the 2026 edition on Thursday (Dec. 11) — a month earlier than usual.

John Mayall and his band the Bluesbreakers pioneered British blues rock, introducing it to a larger audience. They included musicians who went on to join legendary bands like Cream, Fleetwood Mac, and the Rolling Stones. Mayall moved to the states in 1968 and had a discography of 70 studio and live albums. Before he passed in 2024, John called Los Angeles home and his favorite climate for living, but it was in Macclesfield, Cheshire where he first heard the blues.

It's Thanksgiving weekend, and we've got some family harmonies. Coming up, we are going to revisit a conversation with the late bassist, Charlie Haden. Haden is known to many for his early work in the late ‘50s with free jazz sax player, Ornette Coleman. A decade later, he founded the Liberation Music Orchestra with arranger and pianist Carla Bley, a group dedicated to political activism. Over the years, Haden collaborated with pianists Keith Jarrett, Kenny Barron, Hank Jones, and his most enduring partnership was with fellow Missourian, guitarist Pat Metheny. Although Charlie Haden’s homeland for many years was Los Angeles, he grew up mostly near Springfield, Missouri. When I spoke to the consummate jazz bassist in 2008, he was drawing attention for a country music record made in Nashville, Rambling Boy, where he was joined by his musical family and several guests. For Haden, country music was a homecoming. His career really began at age two, singing–yodeling–on his parent's live radio show.

The Historic New Orleans Collection spotlights New Orleans architect and urban planner Steven Bingler.