All the Good Songs is a brand new series where I’ll break down a series of songs and the impact they’ve had on music, and on my own life. Read the introduction here.

He’s been the ultimate collaborator in New Orleans’s emerging country music scene. Now, with a brand new solo album, Sam Doores steps out on his own.

For over 40 years, Chicago organist Chris Foreman has kept the sound of the Hammond B3 organ alive in the city of its birth. And he’s still pushing, still innovating, still searching for elusive sounds.

Singers, songwriters, activists, and prosthelytizers of the concept of slowing down, the extraordinary group Rising Appalachia has created a new concept of what a touring band can mean to the communities they travel through.

Once the most dangerous city in the world, Medellin has emerged, improbably, from its violent past and become a major tourist destination. But what fueled the resurgence, and what was the price? And in the end, will it be able to hold on?

Headed up by multi-talented singer-songwriter Cindy Emch, The Secret Emchy Society has quickly become a cornerstone band of a burgeoning music scene that’s putting marginalized voices at the forefront of an often marginalizing music scene.

I wanted to write about my heroes, and I wanted to get it right. And because I get to work for some very cool people at Waxwing, they told me to knock myself out. (Photo: Chad Bakta/New York Times/ Redux)

From a ragtag band of street musicians to an internationally touring act, my old friends from the band Tuba Skinny have used the technology today to open their audience to the music yesterday. (photo: Sarah Danziger)