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It's important to note how much good music is coming from our northern neighbors these days. City and Colour is the solo project of Ontario-native Dallas Green, founding member of the Canadian band Alexisonfire. Bring Me Your Love is Green's second full-length release under the City and Colour moniker, and the record's acoustic singer-songwriter work balances beautifully simple music with powerful vocals and heavy, confessional lyrics.

The new album from the Philadelphia hip-hop band The Roots contains verses from the perspective of a child soldier in Sierra Leone, a campus shooter in America, and those in the grip of addictions. Rising Down may be the group's best album.

The hip-hop icon from Queensbridge has put out a conceptually brave album that works as a love letter to black America and a reclamation of a racial slur. Despite sampling himself, Biggie, and Tupac, Nas makes his untitled new album an unapologetic work of art about black American culture.

Ted Leo of the group Ted Leo and The Pharmacists plays a special solo set before a performance at New York's River to River Festival.

Whether blaring to the stratosphere or holding back to fit a room, Jon Faddis' trumpet is always in conversation. Faddis is a personal hero to many aspiring trumpeters. Here, he performs at Jazz Standard in New York with his quartet and guest percussionists from West Africa.

With his third album, Three Flights from Alto Nido, Greg Laswell continues to refine his acoustic sound, which combines powerful guitar riffs and sweeping piano with rousing vocals. In a session on World Cafe, Laswell plays songs from the new album.

Recently, the jazz-guitar virtuoso released his first studio recording in more than a decade. In a session on Jazz24, Jordan talks about his musical and personal evolution over the past 10 years, as well as his ongoing study of music's role in the healing process.

Everyone Is Crying Out to Me, Beware, the second album from Ukrainian-born singer-songwriter Alina Simone, is utterly haunting. With bare-bones arrangements and Simone's powerful, poignant vocals at the forefront, the record burns through a collection of songs by Siberian punk-folk singer, Yanka Dyagileva, with cathartic fervor. Though the lyrics are in Russian, the emotions are raw and easily felt.

Fresh Air's jazz critic has a listen to a re-issue of The Hawk Flies High, the 1957 album from tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins — who's often credited with legitimizing that instrument in the jazz world.

In Jakob Dylan's full-length solo debut, Seeing Things, the singer-songwriter proves adept at insightful lyrics that provide commentary on modern times. Hear his performance, as well as an interview with host David Dye, on WXPN's World Cafe.