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Brett Dennen is a singer-songwriter who was born and raised in the small gold-rush town of Oakdale, Calif. He recently released his self-titled debut album, which also features his own original artwork. Dennen chats with World Cafe host David Dye.

Guitarist Link Wray died on November 5 at the age of 76. He's credited with inventing the power chord in the 1950s. His first big recording hit was the 1958 instrumental Rumble. When he went to record the song, he wasn't happy with the sound on the amp, so he pierced holes in the speaker cone to create additional distortion. Guitarists including Pete Townshend and John Lennon were influenced by his work. Wray's other hits include Rawhide and the Batman theme.

The Agoraphobic Cowboy is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to country music by comic actor Rick Moranis. It features lyrics along the lines of this one: "Nine more gallons, and I'll have me a hat."

In the third day of his week long stint as Performance Today's Young Artist in Residence, violinist Colin Jacobsen joins pianist Marija Stroke in works by Czech and American composers.

The poetry and lyricism in songs by George Gershwin have universal appeal. The Lark Quartet plays three songs by Gershwin, arranged for string quartet by Stanley Silverman. "He Loves and She Loves," "Do It Again," and "Sweet and Lowdown," with a touch of Ella Fitzgerald.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's new album, Howl, unveils a new blues, country and gospel-inspired sound. The mostly acoustic songs on the record, tinged with Americana, are an intriguing departure from the California band's trademark dirty rock sound.

The hip-hop collective known as Black Sheep — rapper Dres and DJ Mister Lawnge (pronounced "long") — have reunited after more than a decade for a North American tour and a new album.

Writer and designer Jennifer Sharpe collects musical oddities. This time, Sharpe shares some selections from an unusual genre she calls "kid funk," including 6-year-old Angela Simpson's 1970s rendition of Langston Hughes poetry.

Roots-rock legends Son Volt are back with their first release in seven years. Okemah and the Melody of Riot features some of the finest songs of frontman Jay Farrar's career, bringing to mind some of the greatest recorded moments of Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

"Solidarity Forever," the unofficial anthem of the American labor movement, was written in 1915 by a little-known poet named Ralph Chaplin and set to the civil war tune "John Brown's Body." Since then, it has been sung in union halls, jails and on picket lines across the country.