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Pianist Rafal Blechacz won the 2005 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, so he's qualified to play Chopin. He was back in Warsaw this past summer to play the Barcarolle, Op. 60, and the Etude Op. 10, No. 8.

Old Crow Medicine Show is a country/bluegrass quintet with a punk attitude and a vibrant Americana style that's hard to resist. The group's instrumental repertoire includes upright bass, harmonica, fiddle, banjo and multiple guitars, to go with vocals propelled by a distinctive country twang.

Audra McDonald is a bona-fide Broadway star and a well-regarded recording artist whose albums have featured American popular standards and newer musical theater. But her new album takes her in a different direction.

As a hired-gun guitar-slinger, Will Kimbrough has earned a reputation as an "alien" — a way to explain his otherworldly prowess. Fortunately for Kimbrough, who aspires to a solo career, his songwriting chops are solid, too.

Maybe it's an indication that the initial weirdness of listening to it has worn off, but pianist Jason Moran's scrupulous practice of using pre-recorded dialogue as a guide for etching melodic statements has never sounded as moving as it does on "Artists Ought to Be Writing."

A stroll off the beaten path of the classics leads inexorably to the lute — and its Arabic precursor, the oud. From the NPR studios, lutenist Hopkinson Smith plays a Bransle de Poitou, from 16th-century France. Then, oud player Ramiro Amusategui improvises on a traditional Moroccan tune.

On his new album, Ray Wylie Hubbard serves up a mostly greasy plateful of growling, country-fried rhythm and blues, heavy on themes of sin and the South. But most notable is an exception to this mix, a soulful neo-gospel re-working of a late-'90s original called "Resurrection."

"You're so terrified / so terrified," Rainer Maria's Caithlin De Marrais sings with neither rancor nor disappointment, and the reason becomes clear as she hits that word "so" a third time, spins it from an intensifier into a conjunction, and sings, "So am I," recasting everything to admit to her own weaknesses.

Migrant workers came from around the world to build Panama's transportation systems. They brought, among other things, music with them. Dozens of bands that came to be known collectively as Combos Nacionales married musical styles as distinct and distant as New York boogaloo, Cuban descarga and Trinidadian Calypso. Panama: Latin, Calypso and Funk at the Isthmus charts this uniquely Panamanian hybrid.

Mates of State's Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel leave little to the imagination: They use their relationship as fodder for songwriting, and once filmed a video wearing only their underwear. Full of punk-informed jams and quirky ballads, Bring it Back is their most diverse and personal album yet.