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New Orleans is not only the cradle of jazz. It's also the birthplace of great jazz piano, dating back to the early 1900s, when Jelly Roll Morton tickled the ivories. Hear three pianists who are keeping upholding that great tradition — Allen Toussaint, Henry Butler and Jon Cleary — onstage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with Keys to New Orleans.

The former American Idol contestant, whom Paula Abdul dubbed "one funky white boy," just made Fight for Love, his second album since the competition. Yamin dishes on his soul sound, his time in the TV spotlight and, of course, his mom.

Pianist Ben Folds has crafted a series of alt-rock hits over the past 15 years. For his pseudo-"greatest-hits" package, he's commissioned new arrangements of those songs from university a cappella groups across the country. Folds and host Jacki Lyden compare and contrast the various versions of his songs.

After singing back-up for Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis, The Watson Twins' members step into the spotlight with Fire Songs, a knock-out debut that showcases their seamless vocals. Hear the Kentucky natives in this World Cafe session with host David Dye.

Self-produced by The Helio Sequence, Keep Your Eyes Ahead attests to a four-year maturation. With a seamless track sequence, the band creates a euphoric mixture of Dylan-inspired indie-rock and electro power-ballads. It's a surreal dream of musical experimentation that proves that less can be more.

The monks of Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria sing ancient Gregorian chants in their 12th-century church — and then post them to YouTube. Their technological savvy landed them a record deal, and now their album is storming the European charts and arriving in America. Father Karl Wallner talks to host Andrea Seabrook about balancing pop stardom with the religious life.

A week after Lil Wayne's latest album was released, it had sold a million copies. Robert Christgau says the phenomenal success of Tha Carter III, especially in these dismal times for the music industry, is due to the risky marketing techniques Lil Wayne employed and the playful way he treats traditional gangsta rap themes.

Charles Mingus' monumental masterpiece "Epitaph" never saw the light of day during his lifetime. But the tempestuous jazz legend left his ambitious score to be discovered by new generations. Hear the full piece, a 2 1/2-hour affair for 31 musicians.

Philadelphia's The Asteroid No. 4 takes dreamy shoegazer pop and mixes in elements of '60s psychedelia to create a folk-rock sound that falls somewhere between The Byrds and The Stone Roses. The group's fifth studio album, These Flowers of Ours, is dripping with reverb, echo, and tremolo effects. The album plays like a pastoral work of stargazing time-travel.

Los Campesinos! is a seven-piece Welsh indie-pop band with an exciting, multilayered debut called Hold on Now, Youngster. Already soaking up international buzz, Los Campesinos! visits World Cafe with host David Dye.